Epilepsy
Is Epilepsy Hereditary?
BIOS 260 Fundamentals of Pathophysiology
Milyn Pierce
DeVry University
Course Project
January 27, 2013
Abstract: Epilepsy is the second most common neurological problem in adults. 2 out of every 100 people will experience a seizure at some point in their life. Some seizures will onset as a child and disappear after adolescence. Some suffer seizures as a result of a brain injury, trauma, infection, or response to medication. Heredity increases an individuals’ risk to 5% if one of the child’s parents are epileptic. If both of those child’s parents are epileptic the risk of passing it on to the child is still less that 15 %. In brainwave tests those who are epileptic have six times more brain activity than those who did not. Explored throughout this paper will be heredity factor, different causes of epilepsy, types of epilepsy, treatment and prognosis.
Genetics play a minimal role when it comes to epilepsy in young children. Only 2% of the population is diagnosed with epilepsy at some time during the course of their life. If a child is born, and only one parent has epilepsy, that child’s chance increases to 5%. If a child is born to parents who are both epileptic, their chances of inheriting epilepsy are increased to less than 15%. Most symptoms usually begin between the ages of 5 and 20, but is not uncommon for symptoms to prevail later in life. For the pediatric age group studied, seizures presenting themselves after birth or during the course of their childhood that were seemed to be the most common types of inherited epilepsy were, childhood absence epilepsy, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, and photosensitive epilepsy. Some seizures can be a result of brain damage which can be caused by a number of things from difficulties at birth, a stroke, or an infection of the brain, like meningitis. An interesting statistic shows that six out of 10 people with epilepsy develop the condition with no genetic predisposition. Each type of
BIOS 260 Fundamentals of Pathophysiology
Milyn Pierce
DeVry University
Course Project
January 27, 2013
Abstract: Epilepsy is the second most common neurological problem in adults. 2 out of every 100 people will experience a seizure at some point in their life. Some seizures will onset as a child and disappear after adolescence. Some suffer seizures as a result of a brain injury, trauma, infection, or response to medication. Heredity increases an individuals’ risk to 5% if one of the child’s parents are epileptic. If both of those child’s parents are epileptic the risk of passing it on to the child is still less that 15 %. In brainwave tests those who are epileptic have six times more brain activity than those who did not. Explored throughout this paper will be heredity factor, different causes of epilepsy, types of epilepsy, treatment and prognosis.
Genetics play a minimal role when it comes to epilepsy in young children. Only 2% of the population is diagnosed with epilepsy at some time during the course of their life. If a child is born, and only one parent has epilepsy, that child’s chance increases to 5%. If a child is born to parents who are both epileptic, their chances of inheriting epilepsy are increased to less than 15%. Most symptoms usually begin between the ages of 5 and 20, but is not uncommon for symptoms to prevail later in life. For the pediatric age group studied, seizures presenting themselves after birth or during the course of their childhood that were seemed to be the most common types of inherited epilepsy were, childhood absence epilepsy, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, and photosensitive epilepsy. Some seizures can be a result of brain damage which can be caused by a number of things from difficulties at birth, a stroke, or an infection of the brain, like meningitis. An interesting statistic shows that six out of 10 people with epilepsy develop the condition with no genetic predisposition. Each type of
References: Guyton, A. (1979) Physiology of the Human Body. Fifth Edition. McPhee, Stephen (2008) Current Treatment and Diagnosis. 47th Edition McGraw-Hill Companies. Mallet, M (1981) Handbook of Anatomy and Physiology for Students of medical radiation therapy” 3rd Edition. The Burrell Company of Publishers Schlassberg, L., Zuidema, (1977) The John Hopkins atlas of Human Funcitonal Anatomy. John Hopkins University Press http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.cdc.gov