What is “epilepsy”? Epilepsy is a group of diseases caused by abnormal brain discharges with multiple causes, resulting in seizures of abnormal motor, sensory, consciousness, mental and vegetative functions. According to the WHO, the prevalence of epilepsy in China is about 7 per 1,000, and there are about 9 million epileptic patients. What are the clinical manifestations of epilepsy? The clinical manifestations of epilepsy are various, and the common forms are as follows: a. Generalized tonic clonic seizures: Patients mainly present with a sudden scream, followed by loss of consciousness, falling to the ground, foaming at the mouth, staring at the eyes, respiratory arrest followed by shortness of breath, upper limb extension or flexion, and lower limb extension twitching. Some patients have abnormal mental behavior, struggling, refusal, restlessness, etc. after the convulsion. Second, aphasic seizures: the main clinical manifestation is sudden and abrupt disorder of consciousness, which can occur in any situation. Sometimes, while froze, accompanied by smacking, aimless groping, wandering, rubbing hands and other actions; or brief muscle clonus; or loss of muscle tone, posture can not be maintained and fall down. Partial seizure: The seizure is not accompanied by consciousness disorder, but only shows abnormalities of motor, sensory and vegetative symptoms. Some patients may have disorders of consciousness, accompanied by abdominal discomfort, rising abdominal gas, panic, chest tightness and other abnormalities. Fourth, other forms of subterfuge. For example, brief muscle twitching, tonicity, clonus; sudden fall, etc. How to diagnose “epilepsy” If epilepsy is suspected. Patients can go to a regular epilepsy clinic for consultation and examination. EEG is an essential test. In the past, the simple EEG (about 10 minutes, 8-lead EEG) was not able to diagnose the disease. Nowadays, long-range video EEG (V-EEG) is usually used internationally to replace it. It can not only continuously record the EEG activity of the patient in different states, but also record the somatic movements corresponding to the EEG activity, thus improving the diagnosis of epilepsy. When combined with evoked methods such as hyperventilation, flash stimulation, sleep deprivation, and special electrode monitoring, long-range video EEG can have a confirmatory diagnosis rate of epilepsy of more than 95%. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): Using modern high-field strength MRI imaging sequences, subtle lesions and abnormal sites of cortical structures in the brain can be detected. It can help clinicians identify the cause of epilepsy and thus guide them in targeted etiologic treatment. Dangers of epilepsy Epileptic death and traumatic brain injury. Due to the sudden and uncertain nature of seizures, the incidence of mortality and traumatic brain injury is significantly higher in patients with epilepsy than in normal subjects. The incidence of accidents is higher when the patient is in a high-risk environment, such as climbing heights, crossing roads, or by ponds. Epileptic mental disorders. Most patients with epilepsy have a mental mood disorder that manifests as anxiety, depression, mania, or aggressive behavior. This affects the patient’s employment, marriage, and family life to varying degrees. Some patients are sent to psychiatric hospitals and treated according to psychiatric disorders and get worse and worse. Intellectual decline: The primary brain injury, combined with the effects of recurrent, long-term seizures on normal brain cells. If not treated in a timely manner, patients with epilepsy will experience varying degrees of intellectual, behavioral and cognitive dysfunction. Side effects: Long-term drug use can lead to liver and kidney dysfunction, blood component abnormalities, bone marrow hematopoietic suppression, and facial deformation. Can “epilepsy” be cured? Although it is difficult to treat, epilepsy is not incurable. The majority of patients with epilepsy can be controlled to varying degrees as long as they undergo regular and systematic treatment as early as possible, so there is no need to be pessimistic and disappointed, but to actively and optimistically cooperate with doctors for early recovery. For patients with epilepsy that is not well controlled by drugs or resistant to drugs, the use of modern science and technology to precisely locate the epileptic foci and then use minimally invasive surgery to remove the epileptogenic foci is the greatest progress in neurosurgery in recent times. The Department of Functional Neurology of our hospital has confirmed through nearly 1,000 cases that the cure rate is over 80% as long as the location is accurate. If there are tumors, parasites, brain abscesses or other lesions in the brain of epileptic patients, or brain scar formation after previous brain injury or infection, or vascular malformation or congenital developmental abnormality in the brain. Surgery can receive better results. a. Patients with intractable epilepsy whose long-term systemic treatment with antiepileptic drugs is not effective and even has a tendency to aggravate b. Patients with frequent seizures that cause a progressive decline in intelligence and affect normal life, work or study. c. If neuroimaging examinations reveal a clear epileptogenic focus in the brain, surgery should be performed as early as possible. d. If the epileptogenic foci are not in important functional areas of the brain, the surgical results will be better and will not cause significant disability to the patient.