EXPLORE!

Patients with severe hemorrhagic stroke at highest risk of post-stroke epilepsy

  1759 Views

Dr Veena Aggarwal, Consultant Womens’ Health, CMD and Editor-in-Chief, IJCP Group & Medtalks Trustee, Dr KK’s Heart Care Foundation of India    15 December 2021

Findings of a large Danish registry study presented at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2021 Annual Meeting show that patients are at a very high risk of developing seizures within a year of a stroke.

The study included a total of 88,119 adults,), who had their first stroke between April 2004 and December 2016. They had no past history of epilepsy. Data on the type and severity of stroke was obtained from the Danish Stroke Registry. The Danish National Patient Registry was sourced to identify epilepsy cases.  Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) was recorded in 7661 patients, while 79,157 had suffered an acute ischemic stroke. Slightly over 10,000 had had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). The participants were aged nearly 70 years (mean) at the time of the acute event.

There were 3483 patients with epilepsy within the first 4 years following the stroke. The risk was highest for patients who had ICH; nearly 10% for those who had suffered a severe ICH within a year of occurrence of the stroke, while it was 5% for those with mild hemorrhagic stroke. Patients with severe acute ischemic stroke had 7.8% risk of developing a seizure or status epilepticus, while for patients with mild acute ischemic stroke, the risk was 1.3% within the first year. The risk for epilepsy was less than one percent following a TIA. A decline in this risk was seen in each successive year after the stroke, but it did not reduce completely. Patients with severe hematoma were at 2.3% risk of epilepsy at 4 years.

This study has shown that while the risk for post-stroke epilepsy was highest in the year following the stroke, the patients continued to be at risk even after 4 years. The risk is especially higher for those who suffer a severe stroke. This study highlights the need for educating the patients and their families about the warning signs of epilepsy, which may often be very subtle and therefore can be easily missed.

References

  1. American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2021 Annual Meeting: Abstract #1.373. Presented December 4, 2021.
  2. Very high risk of epilepsy 1 year after stroke - Medscape - Dec 13, 2021.

To comment on this article,
create a free account.

Sign Up to instantly get access to 10000+ Articles & 1000+ Cases

Already registered?

Login Now

Most Popular Articles

News and Updates

eMediNexus provides latest updates on medical news, medical case studies from India. In-depth medical case studies and research designed for doctors and healthcare professionals.