A clinical review of first seizures in adult patients

Abstract

First seizures in adult patients are a common problem in clinical practice and their management represents a challenge for physicians The aim of this review is to develop a systematic clinical approach for the classification diagnosis and treatment of patients who have experienced a first seizure This could help clinicians to recognize and treat this condition appropriately Because these seizures can arise from several etiologies it is essential to know if the event was a provoked acute symptomatic or unprovoked seizure Thus an adequate classification is important to establish the length of the diagnosis approach the necessary treatment and every individual prognosis We found that patients diagnosed with a single unprovoked seizure require electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging This will allow an assessment of the risk of recurrence and the identification of patients that follow the diagnosis criteria for epilepsy We recommend individualized pharmacological therapy to reduce early seizure recurrence le years even if it can produce some adverse effects Finally we determine that there are still certain areas of uncertainty to promote future research in this topic