Post-Traumatic Seizures
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About Post-Traumatic Seizures
- Post-traumatic seizures occurring in the first week after injury in approximately 25 percent of patients with traumatic intracranial hematomas and contusions.
Symptoms
- Seizure symptoms can vary from small absence seizures, where the person is unresponsive for a few seconds or minutes, to generalized seizures, with possible falling, convulsions and repetitive behavior.
Treatment
- Recovery after brain injury varies widely.
- Use of the anticonvulsant medication phenytoin during the first week after head injury reduces the risk of post-traumatic seizures by 70 percent to 75 percent.
- It is unclear if anticonvulsant therapy reduces the risk after one week post injury.
- The UCLA Epilepsy Program offers surgical techniques that reduce or eliminate some seizure activity.