Epileptic seizures in acute stroke

Abstract

We evaluated prospectively the incidence of early seizures in 1000 consecutive patients with stroke and transient ischemic attacks to determine whether seizure occurrence correlates with stroke type, pathogenesis, or outcome. Seizures occurred in 44 patients (4.4%; SE, 0.7%), including 10 (15.4%) of 65 (SE, 4.5%) with lobar or extensive hemorrhage, 6 (8.5%) of 71 (SE, 3.3%) with subarachnoid hemorrhage, 24 (6.5%) of 370 (SE, 1.3%) with cortical infarction, and 4 (3.7%) of 109 (SE, 1.8%) with hemispheric transient ischemic attacks. Lacunar infarcts and deep hemorrhages were not associated with seizures. Arteriovenous malformation was a common cause of lobar hemorrhage with early seizures, but in cortical infarcts there was no association between seizure occurrence and pathogenesis. Seizures generally occurred within 48 hours of stroke onset, were usually single, partial, and readily controlled. Seizures were not associated with a higher mortality or worse functional outcome.