Epilepsy.

The term epilepsy is applied to a number of conditions that have in common the propensity for the occurrence of epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures are transient clinical events that result from abnormal, excessive activity of a population of cerebral neurons. They are usually brief, lasting from seconds to minutes, and are marked by the sudden appearance of behavioral manifestations that may be purely motor or affect other brain functions. The abnormal and excessive neuronal activity at the origin of epileptic seizures is inferred from the accompanying clinical and electroencephalographic (EEG) events. Although the clinical events are not always excitatory in nature (e.g., loss of awareness, loss of muscle tone, or loss of language), an epileptic seizure is always the expression of the paroxysmal disorganization of neural networks underlying brain functions [1]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]