Seizure

An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain".

What is a Seizure?

Seizures are caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain. In the healthy brain, electrical and chemical signals are fired between nerves called neurons to drive the brain's ability to think, feel and send instructions to parts of the body, such as the muscles. Seizures occur when this electrical system in the brain malfunctions.

Epileptic Seizure Causes

Epileptic Seizure Management

Epileptic Seizure Diagnosis

Epileptic Seizure Symptoms

Latest Seizure News and Research

New study offers hope for patients with treatment-resistant focal epilepsy

About one-third of patients with focal epilepsy, a common form of the neurological disorder, are believed to respond poorly to available therapies.

21 Oct 2025

Tailored deep brain stimulation offers new hope for hard-to-treat epilepsy

Doctors and researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC have developed a new treatment for epilepsy patients who don't respond to medication and aren't candidates for surgery. Their approach, published today in Nature Communications, uses deep brain stimulation (DBS) that is tailored to each patient's unique brain wiring.

21 Oct 2025

New European trial tests subcutaneous EEG technology for people with epilepsy

A new clinical trial co-led by researchers at FutureNeuro and RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences is investigating how advanced brain monitoring could improve the diagnosis and management of epilepsy.

16 Oct 2025

Caraway seeds inspire new seizure-fighting medicines

A UNLV-led team of researchers has co-opted a common kitchen spice to create a new class of cannabidiol (CBD)-like medicines that show powerful seizure-reducing effects - offering a safer, more affordable, and more effective treatment for childhood seizure disorders than existing frontline therapies.

15 Oct 2025

Common painkiller and antidepressant combo may increase seizure risk in older adults

When older adults living in nursing homes are prescribed the pain medicine tramadol alongside certain antidepressants, their risk of seizures may go up, according to a study published October 8, 2025, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

8 Oct 2025

‘Future-guided’ AI boosts accuracy in seizure prediction

In the world around us, many things exist in the context of time: a bird's path through the sky is understood as different positions over a period of time, and conversations as a series of words occurring one after another.

2 Oct 2025

AI tool detects tiny brain lesions to improve epilepsy treatment in children

An advanced AI tool can detect tiny brain lesions that cause severe epilepsy in children, allowing faster diagnosis, more precise treatment and a potential cure, according to a new study.

30 Sep 2025

New research links postictal symptoms in epilepsy to hidden brain waves

In everyday clinical practice, symptoms are regularly observed after epileptic seizures, known as "post-ictal symptoms", which, in contrast to the usually short duration of seizures, typically last several minutes to hours. Besides symptoms such as impaired speech and language comprehension, a state of disorientation may occur.

19 Sep 2025

Researchers identify seizure-associated depolarization as cause of post-ictal symptoms

People with temporal lobe epilepsy in particular often wander around aimlessly and unconsciously after a seizure. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) have identified a neurobiological mechanism that could be responsible for this so-called post-ictal wandering and potentially other postictal symptoms.

18 Sep 2025

Precision targeting of the centromedian nucleus offers hope for people with drug-resistant epilepsy

It is estimated that one-third of the 50 million people worldwide with epilepsy are resistant to anti-seizure medications. These patients, having drug-resistant epilepsy, have limited treatment options beyond surgery to control their seizures.

16 Sep 2025

Prefrontal cortex biopsies during deep brain stimulation surgery do not increase risk of adverse events

Obtaining prefrontal cortex biopsies during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in living patients does not increase the risk of adverse events or cognitive decline compared to standard DBS procedures that don't involve biopsies, a team of clinical research scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has demonstrated.

4 Sep 2025

New study reveals long road to seizure control for people with focal epilepsy

Antiseizure medications help the majority of people with focal epilepsy, a common form of the neurological disorder.

25 Aug 2025

Hyperactivity in reticular thalamic nucleus drives autism-like behaviors in mice

Stanford Medicine scientists investigating the neurological underpinnings of autism spectrum disorder have found that hyperactivity in a specific brain region could drive behaviors commonly associated with the disorder.

20 Aug 2025

Patients recall inadequate disclosure of electroconvulsive therapy risks

The medical pros of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are being exaggerated while the risks are being downplayed, suggest the findings of a survey on the type of information patients and their relatives/friends recall having been given before the procedure, and published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

17 Aug 2025

New subcutaneous EEG device offers breakthrough in epilepsy monitoring

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London in partnership with the Mayo Clinic and UNEEG medical, has found that an electronic device placed under the scalp is an effective and feasible means of accurately tracking epilepsy.

11 Aug 2025