Clinical guideline: definition and classification of epilepsy

Abstract

The current definition of epilepsy proposes three possibilities to consider this diagnosis, the first when a patient has two or more unprovoked or reflex seizures in >24 h; the second, an unprovoked or reflex seizure with at least a 60% probability of continuing to present seizures; and the third, the presence of an epileptic syndrome. The classification of the type of seizure divides them into three possibilities depending on how they begin; they can be of focal, generalized, or unknown onset. Focal seizures can be subclassified into those that have or have not lost consciousness, then categorized as to whether the symptoms are motor or non-motor, and further give a descriptor of the event, which is nothing else but the description of symptoms and signs presented by the patient during his seizure. The classification of the type of epilepsy, proposes three diagnostic levels, the first related to the type of seizure, the second to the type of epilepsy, and the third to the type of epileptic syndrome, without forgetting etiology and comorbidity. These concepts are basic for the approach of any patient who presents epilepsy.