People are considered to have convulsions when they suffer from more than one convulsion which is not related to a clear cause such as fever, a head injury or drug use. A convulsion is caused by a sudden brief excess surge of electrical activity in the brain.
Convulsion is one of the most common neurological disorders which affects almost 1% of the world’s population. 25% to 30% of convulsion patients can not be treated by medication or surgery, they suffer from so-called refractory convulsions [30, 56].
Convulsions mainly occur as paroxysmal events, which mean that they occur at a sudden, unexpected timing. The frequency of the convulsions varies from patient to patient. Some patients suffer from multiple convulsions during the day and/or night, while others only have one a month or less. To be able to track the progress of the disease and to alarm caregivers during a convulsion, these patients should be monitored. The gold standard in convulsions monitoring uses EEG-electrodes [28] attached to the scalp. However, these electrodes are difficult to …show more content…
Because the hypermotor convulsions are violent and the potential danger for the patient is high, it is necessary to detect (almost) all convulsions of this type. False detections are less of an issue. The detection of myoclonic jerks, on the other hand, is not critical. For this type of convulsions no alarm is needed, but the aim is to get an idea of the number of convulsions that occurred. Although it is relatively rare, sometimes, convulsions can be fatal. When a patient suffering from convulsions dies without a clear cause for his death (such as drowning or caused by a trauma), the term SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Convulsions) is used. Most of the time it is presumed that the death occurs during convulsions, however, this is not the case in all situations and this is not a requirement for the diagnosis of
Convulsion is one of the most common neurological disorders which affects almost 1% of the world’s population. 25% to 30% of convulsion patients can not be treated by medication or surgery, they suffer from so-called refractory convulsions [30, 56].
Convulsions mainly occur as paroxysmal events, which mean that they occur at a sudden, unexpected timing. The frequency of the convulsions varies from patient to patient. Some patients suffer from multiple convulsions during the day and/or night, while others only have one a month or less. To be able to track the progress of the disease and to alarm caregivers during a convulsion, these patients should be monitored. The gold standard in convulsions monitoring uses EEG-electrodes [28] attached to the scalp. However, these electrodes are difficult to …show more content…
Because the hypermotor convulsions are violent and the potential danger for the patient is high, it is necessary to detect (almost) all convulsions of this type. False detections are less of an issue. The detection of myoclonic jerks, on the other hand, is not critical. For this type of convulsions no alarm is needed, but the aim is to get an idea of the number of convulsions that occurred. Although it is relatively rare, sometimes, convulsions can be fatal. When a patient suffering from convulsions dies without a clear cause for his death (such as drowning or caused by a trauma), the term SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Convulsions) is used. Most of the time it is presumed that the death occurs during convulsions, however, this is not the case in all situations and this is not a requirement for the diagnosis of