EPILEPSIA PARTIALIS CONTINUA

Course overview

EPILEPSIA PARTIALIS CONTINUA (EPC) IS A RARE CONDITION INVOLVING RECURRENT AND SOMETIMES INTRACTABLE FOCAL ONSET SEIZURES ASSOCIATED WITH RETAINED AWARENESS. EPC SEIZURES CAN OCCUR OVER HOURS, DAYS, OR EVEN YEARS. THE DISEASE CAN MANIFEST IN A VARIETY OF WAYS, A FEW OF WHICH INCLUDE MYOCLONIC EPILEPSY, LOCALIZED MYOCLONUS, JACKSONIAN EPILEPSY, OR SENSORIMOTOR CLONIC SEIZURES. THE LOCALIZED NATURE OF THE SEIZURES ALONG WITH PRESERVED CONSCIOUSNESS AND POSTICTAL CONFUSION AND WEAKNESS (TODD PARALYSIS) ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE DISORDER BUT NOT PATHOGNOMONIC. TREATMENT IS CENTERED ON A COMBINATION OF ANTI-EPILEPTICS COUPLED WITH IDENTIFICATION AND RESOLUTION OF THE UNDERLYING CAUSE. THIS ACTIVITY REVIEWS WHEN EPILEPSIA PARTIALIS CONTINUA SHOULD BE CONSIDERED, HOW TO PROPERLY EVALUATE FOR IT, AND THE ROLE OF THE INTERPROFESSIONAL TEAM IN CARING FOR PATIENTS WITH THIS CONDITION.