Question

What factors or causes might lead to the occurrence of epilepsy?

Answer

  1. Congenital anomalies: such as chromosomal abnormalities, intrauterine brain hemorrhage, microcephaly, partial agenesis of the corpus callosum, cortical dysgenesis, etc.
  2. Perinatal and neonatal diseases: perinatal injuries are a common cause of symptomatic epilepsy in infants.
  3. Post-febrile convulsions: severe and prolonged febrile convulsions can cause brain damage, including neuronal loss and gliosis, mainly in the temporal lobe, especially in the hippocampus.
  4. Craniocerebral injuries: post-traumatic epilepsy associated with depressed fractures, cerebral dural tears, and regional neurological signs, with long-term memory impairment.
  5. Infections: seen in various bacterial meningitis, brain abscesses, granulomas, viral encephalitis, as well as parasitic diseases such as cysticercosis, schistosomiasis, toxoplasmosis, etc.
  6. Poisoning: lead, mercury, carbon monoxide, ethanol, strychnine, pyridoxine poisoning, and systemic diseases such as preeclampsia, uremia, etc., can induce seizures.
  7. Intracranial tumors
  8. Cerebrovascular diseases: in addition to epilepsy caused by cerebrovascular malformations and subarachnoid hemorrhage in younger individuals, epilepsy is more common in middle-aged and elderly individuals, especially in cases of cerebral embolism, thrombosis, and cerebral infarction.