Comment on Epileptic Seizures and Epilepsy: Definitions Proposed by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) and the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE)

作者：Ettore Beghi, Anne T. Berg, Arturo Carpio, Lars Forsgren, Dale C. Hesdorffer, W. Allen Hauser, Kristina Malmgren, Shlomo Shinnar, Nancy R. Temkin, David J. Thurman, Torbjörn Tomson · 发表于：Epilepsia · 年份：2005 · DOI：10.1111/j.1528-1167.2005.00273_1.x · 被引用次数：2314 · 研究领域：Epilepsy research and treatment、Pharmacological Effects and Toxicity Studies、Neonatal and fetal brain pathology

To the Editor: Fisher et al. (1) state, “Little common agreement exists on the definition of the terms seizure and epilepsy,” and they propose ILAE-endorsed definitions for these terms. Although their proposed definition of “seizure” is consistent with that which has been in use throughout the field for decades, their proposed definition of epilepsy is not. Fisher and colleagues (1) propose the following definition of epilepsy: “Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain characterized by an enduring predisposition to generate epileptic seizures and by the neurobiologic, cognitive, psychological, and social consequences of this condition.” The definition of epilepsy in Fisher's Table 1 (1) requires the occurrence of at least one epileptic seizure but not that the seizure be unprovoked. Although it may be helpful to consider diverse conditions (febrile seizure, acute symptomatic seizure, single unprovoked seizure, and epilepsy) within the context of studying the seizure disorders, it is not helpful to consider all of these conditions as epilepsy. The more restrictive definition of epilepsy (recurrent unprovoked seizures), adopted by the ILAE Commission on Epidemiology and Prognosis (2), is related to therapeutic, management, and counseling approaches and supported by epidemiologic studies of seizure disorders. Furthermore, this definition has been largely adopted in clinical practice and was instrumental in developing practice guidelines (3). The failure to clarify the concept of “end...