Seizures in Organ Transplant Recipients

Abstract

Seizures are a nonspecific neurological manifestation of cerebral dysfunction and are not indicative of any particular disease processes or pathology. Thus, the evaluation and treatment of seizures in transplant patients generally follows the same clinical approach used for other patients. A seizure in a transplant patient is commonly unanticipated and entirely unexplained. The effects can be substantial, with aspiration, loss of vascular catheters, and tissue trauma. Patients undergoing organ transplantation are at risk for seizures for multiple reasons, and although much of the neurological and transplantation literature reports on the incidence of seizures according to the particular organ transplanted (Table 1), there are many similarities (e.g., immunosuppression drugs). This chapter concentrates on organ transplantation as a whole.