Epileptic Seizures in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Abstract

The presence of epileptic seizures in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) is a well known phenomenon. The aims of our study performed in the Clinic of Neurology, University Clinical Centre of Kosovo, Prishtina are; to point out correlatation between the mean age of MS manifestation in MS patients in general and according to gender (age/gender) and the mean age of manifestation of epileptic seizures in MS patients in general according to gender (age/gender); to identify the types of epileptic seizures in patients with multiple sclerosis, according to gender/age; to point out the correlation between relapses and seizures and to point out the main electrophysiological / imaging changes observed. The in-patients documents of 300 observed patients with multiple sclerosis in Prishtina during the period of January 2000 - December 2009 in the Neurological Clinic of University Clinical Centre of Kosova have been reviewed. All the observed patients have fulfilled the MS criteria of McDonald et al (2010). The epilepsy diagnosis has been set based on the criteria of ILAE (International League against Epilepsy) (1983) while epileptic seizures have been classified based on ILAE classification (1981). Out of the 300 patients with multiple sclerosis, in this study 49 (16.33%) have been identified with epileptic seizures. In 23 out of 49 patients or 47%, seizures or epilepsy appeared after diagnosing multiple sclerosis. In 6 patients (12.2%), epileptic seizures have preceded multiple sclerosis diagnosis while in 20 patients (40.8%) epilepsy diagnosis was set before diagnosing multiple sclerosis. These patients were being treated with antiepileptic therapy. Out of 23 patients (47%) in whom the epileptic seizures appeared after setting multiple sclerosis diagnosis, 17 (74%) had simple partial seizures, while 6 (26%) had complex partial seizures. According to our study, the epileptic seizures in MS patients appeared about 2.2 years after multiple sclerosis diagnosis.