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Levetiracetam, sold under the brand name Keppra among others, is a novel antiepileptic drug [7] used to treat epilepsy. [8] It is used for partial-onset , myoclonic , or tonic–clonic seizures, [ 7 ] and is taken either by mouth as an immediate or extended release formulation or by injection into a vein .
Epilepsy is more common among children than adults, affecting about 6 out of 1000 US children that are between the age of 0 to 5 years old. [2] The epileptic seizures can be of different types depending on the part of the brain that was affected, seizures are classified in 2 main types partial seizure or generalized seizure .
In the developing world, onset is more common at the extremes of age – in younger children and in older children and young adults due to differences in the frequency of the underlying causes. [19] About 5–10% of people will have an unprovoked seizure by the age of 80. [ 20 ]
In children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, a fever of 38 °C (100.4 °F) or higher may lead to a febrile seizure. [25] About 2-5% of all children will experience such a seizure during their childhood. [26] In most cases, a febrile seizure will not indicate epilepsy. [26]
Systemic infection with high fever is a common cause of seizures, especially in children. [3] [25] These are called febrile seizures and occur in 2–5% of children between the ages of six months and five years. [26] [25] Acute infection of the brain, such as encephalitis or meningitis are also causes of seizures. [3]
Childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), formerly known as pyknolepsy, is an idiopathic generalized epilepsy which occurs in otherwise normal children. The age of onset is between 4–10 years with peak age between 5–7 years. Children have absence seizures which although brief (~4–20 seconds), they occur frequently, sometimes in the hundreds per ...
The risk of sudden death in young adults with epilepsy is increased 20-40-fold compared to the general population. [32] [33] [20] SUDEP is the number one cause of epilepsy-related death in people with pharmacoresistant epilepsy. [20] Children with epilepsy have a cumulative risk of dying suddenly of 7% within 40 years. [20]
Similarly, children exposed lamotrigine or phenytoin in the womb do not seem to differ in their skills compared to those who were exposed to carbamazepine. [96] There is inadequate evidence to determine if newborns of women with epilepsy taking anticonvulsants have a substantially increased risk of hemorrhagic disease of the newborn. [94]