Convulsive Seizures in the Aged

Abstract

In order to clarify the underlying causes of convulsive seizures in the aged, the patients who experienced onset of seizures after the age of 40 were analysed with the following results.
1) Cerebral infarction was the most important cause of convulsive seizures in the aged.
2) The incidence of seizures in cerebral infarction was 6% in autopsy cases and 2% in all cases with cerebral infarction.
3) Seizures due to cerebral infarction occurred in some cases at or before the time of stroke (early seizure), while in others several months after the stroke (late seizure). In the latter, the average latent period between stroke and onset of convulsion was 6 months.
4) In all cases with seizures following cerebral infarction, lesions of the cerebral cortex were found either clinically or pathologically. All cases examined by carotid arteriography revealed obstruction of the internal carotid artery or the middle cerebral artery, and the cases with right hemiplegia were all accompanied by motor aphasia.
5) Approximately one-third of patients with reccurrent convulsive seizures were found to have cerebral tumors. The incidence of seizures in cerebral tumor was as high as 30%.
6) Of the patients with cerebral hemorrhage, 10% had seizures. All of these cases showed seizures at the time of stroke and died within a few days indicating unfavorable prognosis of seizures following cerebral hemorrhage.