Seizure classification

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Shakiba Hassanzadeh, MD [2]

Overview

In 2017, the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classified seizure by its onsets as focal (aware/impaired awareness, motor, nonmotor, focal to tonic-clonic seizures), generalized (motor, nonmotor), and unknown (motor, nonmotor, and unclassified). In 1981, the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classified epileptic seizures as partial seizures (simple partial seizures, complex partial seizures, and partial seizures evolving to secondarily generalized seizures), generalized seizures (absence seizures, myoclonic seizures, clonic seizures, tonic seizures, tonic-clonic seizures (grand mal), and atonic seizures), and unclassified epileptic seizures.

In 2017, the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classified seizures by their onsets as:^[1]^[2]

Partial seizures (focal, local)
- Simple partial seizures - consciousness is not impaired
- Complex partial seizures - consciousness is impaired (temporal lobe or psychomotor seizures)
- Partial seizures evolving to secondarily generalized seizures
Generalized seizures - initial involvement of both hemispheres, consciousness may be impaired
- Absence seizures
- Myoclonic seizures
- Clonic seizures
- Tonic seizures
- Tonic-clonic seizures (Grand mal)
- Atonic seizures
Unclassified epileptic seizures

↑ Fisher, Robert S.; Cross, J. Helen; D'Souza, Carol; French, Jacqueline A.; Haut, Sheryl R.; Higurashi, Norimichi; Hirsch, Edouard; Jansen, Floor E.; Lagae, Lieven; Moshé, Solomon L.; Peltola, Jukka; Roulet Perez, Eliane; Scheffer, Ingrid E.; Schulze-Bonhage, Andreas; Somerville, Ernest; Sperling, Michael; Yacubian, Elza Márcia; Zuberi, Sameer M. (2017). "Instruction manual for the ILAE 2017 operational classification of seizure types". Epilepsia. 58 (4): 531–542. doi:10.1111/epi.13671. ISSN 0013-9580.
↑ Stafstrom CE, Carmant L (2015). "Seizures and epilepsy: an overview for neuroscientists". Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 5 (6). doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a022426. PMC 4448698. PMID 26033084.
↑ "Proposal for revised clinical and electroencephalographic classification of epileptic seizures. From the Commission on Classification and Terminology of the International League Against Epilepsy". Epilepsia. 22 (4): 489–501. 1981. doi:10.1111/j.1528-1157.1981.tb06159.x. PMID 6790275.