[Epilepsy in later life: seizures persisting after the age of 60].

Abstract

In a group of 657 epileptic patients there were 51 presenting with fits even after having reached the age of 60. The onset of seizures dated back to the first 20 years in 15 patients between 20 and 40 years in 15 and between 40 and 60 years in 21. In 67% of the cases it was possible to determine the cause of seizures. The aetiology was unevenly distributed within each group. In the first group (up to 20 years) the P.G.E. forms prevail. In the second (up to 40 years) post traumatic epilepsy and inflammatory processes were predominant, while in the third (up to 60 years) vascular and tumoral pathology seem to be prevalent. 43% of the patients showed paroxysmal abnormalities in the EEG and these were still present even after to age of 60 years in more than fifty per cent. After the age of 60 we found no case of benign epilepsy amenable to complete recovery. Patients older than 60 present epilepsies of mild severity. In symptomatic epilepsies the lesional factors were not subject to evolution and the epileptogenic focuses were stable and persistent. In partial epilepsy there were more cases of complex symptomatology (86%) than cases of elementary symptomatology (14%) The evolution of seizures in old age is considered together with the importance of all factors influencing recurrency.