Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a group of disorders marked by problems in the normal functioning of the brain. These problems can produce seizures, unusual body movements, a loss of consciousness or changes in consciousness, as well as mental problems or problems with the senses.

What is Epilepsy?

Epilepsy is a condition that has been known to mankind since ancient times. It affects the brain to cause repeated convulsions or seizures - also called fits in common parlance. The word “epilepsy” comes from the Greek and means to be taken, seized or attacked.

Catamenial Epilepsy

Epilepsy Legal Implications

Epilepsy Classification

Epilepsy Pathophysiology

Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP)

Epilepsy Epidemiology

Epilepsy Treatment

Breath Analysis in Epilepsy Treatment Monitoring

Epilepsy Syndromes

Epilepsy Seizure Types

Catamenial Epilepsy Diagnosis and Treatment

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Can Stem Cells be Used to Treat Epilepsy?

Epilepsy in Children

Latest Epilepsy News and Research

Flooding linked to increased hospitalizations among older adults

New research examining 17 years of data from Medicare hospitalization claims and major flooding events finds increased rates of skin diseases, nervous system diseases, and injuries or poisonings among adults aged 65 and older following major floods.

31 Jul 2025

Study finds continued use of risky antiseizure drugs during pregnancy

Despite evidence of the risk of malformations at birth, or birth defects, use of some antiseizure drugs during pregnancy has persisted, according to a study published on July 23, 2025, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 Jul 2025

Weill Cornell Medicine launches study to advance treatments for rare neurological disorder

A $1.1 million grant from the parent-caregiver-led Rare Bird Foundation to Weill Cornell Medicine is supporting the launch of a natural history study for a rare neurodevelopmental disorder that causes developmental delays and seizures called MEF2C Haploinsufficiency syndrome (MCHS).

23 Jul 2025

States pass privacy laws to protect brain data collected by devices

More states are passing laws to protect information generated by a person's brain and nervous system as technology improves the ability to unlock the sensitive details of a person's health, mental states, emotions, and cognitive functioning.

23 Jul 2025

Gene editing in the brain offers hope for ultra-rare neurological disease

Scientists have corrected gene mutations in mice causing an ultra-rare disease by editing DNA directly in the brain with a single injection, a feat with profound implications for patients with neurological diseases.

21 Jul 2025

Understanding brain activity during sleep to detect early neurological changes

"Complex processes are going on in the brain when we sleep," says Dr Karolina Armonaitė, a neuroscientist from Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania. According to her, a more precise understanding of what happens in different areas of the cerebral cortex during sleep can help diagnose sleep disorders and neurological diseases more accurately.

18 Jul 2025

New insights into brain fueling could lead to treatments for stroke, neurodegeneration

A new Yale study has revealed that neurons - the energy-hungry cells that connect and direct activity in the brain - are equipped with "backup batteries" that kick in to keep the brain running during periods of metabolic stress.

18 Jul 2025

Ripple activity in the brain helps organize and store episodic memories

A research team from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Barcelona, the UB Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro) and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) has identified, for the first time in humans, and in a realistic environment, a key neurophysiological mechanism in memory formation: ripple-type brain waves —high-frequency electrical oscillations that mark and organize the different episodes or fragments of information that the brain stores as memories.

17 Jul 2025

Middle precentral gyrus plays key role in orchestrating speech movements

A new study from UC San Francisco challenges the traditional view of how the brain strings sounds together to form words and orchestrates the movements to pronounce them.

17 Jul 2025

New tech could revolutionize neurodegenerative disease research and AI

When electrical activity travels across the brain, it moves like ripples on a pond. The motion of these "brain waves," first observed in the 1920s, can now be seen more clearly than ever before thanks to instruments and techniques created by a Stanford-led team.

17 Jul 2025

Hispanic people more likely to develop peripheral neuropathy than white adults

Hispanic people have an increased risk of peripheral neuropathy compared to white people that cannot be explained by many health, lifestyle and social risk factors, according to a study published July 16, 2025, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

16 Jul 2025

Taking specific antiseizure drugs during pregnancy linked to increased risk of malformations at birth

A new study that examined older and newer medications to treat seizures has found that using some medications during pregnancy is linked to an increased risk of malformations at birth, or birth defects.

16 Jul 2025

Researchers create over 400 types of nerve cells from stem cells

Nerve cells are not just nerve cells. Depending on how finely we distinguish, there are several hundred to several thousand different types of nerve cell in the human brain according to the latest calculations.

11 Jul 2025

Fasting triggers neuroprotective changes that could delay dementia

Intermittent fasting could be a neuroprotective strategy, improving gut-brain axis function and reducing inflammation linked to neurodegenerative diseases.

11 Jul 2025

Study reveals top reasons schools call emergency medical services

The three most common reasons schools called emergency medical services (EMS) were for neurological crises such as seizures, psychiatric conditions or substance abuse, and trauma related injuries, according to data from the national EMS registry analyzed by researchers from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

2 Jul 2025