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Biomedical subjects

R Suárez-Moro

Publications and source records attributed to R Suárez-Moro.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

[Drop attacks in patients with partial epilepsy].

BACKGROUND: It is known the presence of sudden falls or epileptic drop-attacks (DA) in patients with partial epilepsy. OBJECTIVE: To review the clinical and electroencephalographic manifestations in our patients with partial epilepsy and DA. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifteen patients (9 males/6 females) over 18 years with partial epilepsy and epileptic falls were selected. RESULTS: The mean age was 39 years (24-56 years). The mean age at seizure onset were 13 years (8 months-49 years) for partial seizures and 26 years (2-54 years) for DA. Secondary generalized or not, all patients had complex partial seizures, associated with simple partial seizures in five (34%). All were treated with politherapy, but a good control was not achieved. EEG recordings showed frontal focus in 7, temporal focus in 8, secondary bilateral synchrony in 9, and increase of electroencephalographic abnormalities during sleep in 9. Cognitive and emotional disorders were observed in 8 and 6 patients, respectively. Nine patients suffered from status epilepticus. The causal lesions were connatal encephalopathy in 8 and criptogenic in the other 7. The main consequence of DA was recurrent craneal trauma in 9 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of DA is considered an ominous change in the evolution of a partial epilepsy. It's associated with mental deterioration and emotional disturbances and with drug resistance.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

[Epidemiology and etiology of status epilepticus].

Establishing the incidence and frequency of status epilepticus (SE) is difficult because of differences in definition, problems of diagnosing nonconvulsive SE and, above all, the diversity of study populations. There are differences involved in studying the frequency of SE in a population of epileptics, in a sample of all patients seen at a single hospital or by a specific department, or in the general population. It is estimated that SE is suffered annually by 50 out of 100,000 inhabitants in the general population, 0.2% of hospital patients, 3.5% of patients admitted to an intensive care unit, and from 2 to 10% of epileptic patients. These figures increase if only children are considered. Age and history of epilepsy must be taken into account in order to determine the cause of SE. SE often appears in a context of no known prior history of epilepsy, particularly in the elderly. The cause remains undetected in approximately one third of SE cases. Among the most common symptomatic causes in the adult are cerebral vascular disease and toxic-metabolic disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

[Status epilepticus].

Prolonged or repeated seizures--or status epilepticus (SE)--presents diagnostic and therapeutic problems and is one of the most common neurologic emergencies. SE is defined as seizure lasting longer then 30 minutes or the repetition of at least two seizures within a short period of time, independently of the patient's state of consciousness or the type of seizure. At least 10% of epileptic patients suffer an SE during the course of their disease. Fifty percent of SEs appear in patients with no known history of epilepsy. SE is more frequent in symptomatic epilepsies, particularly those arising from trauma, tumor or infection. Most are found in epilepsies involving the frontal lobe. SE is present in nearly all epileptic syndromes, even idiopathic ones, although it is more frequent in cryptogenic and symptomatic forms. Tonic-clonic SE is the best known type and its diagnosis is simple. Partial SE, above complex partial SE, presents a diagnostic challenge. Particularly difficult is the differential diagnosis of complex partial SE and absence SE, above all the form termed late-onset de novo absence SE, which presents as confusional syndrome in the elderly. The treatment of SE, which is always a medical emergency, is based on intravenous benzodiazepines along with phenytoin, barbiturates or both. We discuss the utility of other drugs, such as lidocaine and valproic acid i.v., as well as the possibility of drugs like phosphenytoin becoming available in the near future.

Adolescent↗