Epilepsy: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Epilepsy is a neurological disease in which brain activity becomes aberrant, resulting in occasional seizures or episodes of unusual behavior, sensations, and loss of awareness. It is a chronic non-communicable disease that can affect both the genders across all age groups and ethnicities. Seizures refer to sudden and uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain between the brain cells. Specifically, excessive electrical discharges in a group of brain cells occurring in any part of the brain may cause seizure episodes. Seizures may vary in severity. A person may experience an extremely brief lapse in their attention or muscular jerks or may experience severe and prolonged convulsions (sudden, violent, and irregular movement of the body). Most common symptoms of epilepsy include temporary confusion, staring spells, muscle stiffness, loss of awareness, and uncontrollable jerking of arms or legs. Epilepsy can be caused due to stroke, brain tumors, head injury, drug abuse, brain infection or due to lack of oxygen during birth. It is possible to control seizures with anti-seizure medicines. In some cases, surgery may also help. This book brings forth some of the most innovative concepts and elucidates the unexplored aspects of epilepsy. It consists of contributions made by international experts. This book will serve as a reference to a broad spectrum of readers.