Host: The Japanese Society of Toxicology
Convulsion occurs when the cortical neurons become hyperexcitable due to various reasons. It can happen as an acute symptomatic seizure, where the cortex becomes irritable due to acute brain insult such as encephalitis, stroke, electrolyte imbalance, hypoglycemia, or metabolic/toxic events. Convulsion can also occur as one form of the epileptic seizures. Epilepsy is defined as a brain disorder, where the cortical neurons acquire hyperexcitability and result in recurrent episodes of epileptic seizures. Seizure type (semiology) varies since the semiology depends on which part of the brain becomes hyperexcitable. Epileptic seizures can be generalized convulsion, convulsion of a part of the body or a non-convulsive seizure with impaired awareness. It is important to know that some drugs can decrease the seizure threshold to trigger convulsions or seizures. As a physician who sees epilepsy and convulsion in daily clinical practice, I will overview what is convulsion or seizure, and review the drug induced seizures by introducing our cases.
