The META Scholar Volume 7 | Page 11

Epilepsy, the Brain, and How the PET Scan is used to Diagnose by Stephen A. Dewese at St. Phillips College Abstract The purpose of this research paper is to better understand neurological disease, epilepsy. I will discuss just how serious this syndrome is. The fist section will cover the disease: some causes, statistics regarding epilepsy, and the types of seizures associated. We also cover the anatomy responsible for initiating the attacks. To close I will discuss a few medical devices clinicians use to diagnose the disease, and the process of a PET scan. Epilepsy, the Brain, and How the PET Scan is used to Diagnose “Epilepsy is the most common serious brain disorder worldwide. It has no age, racial, social class, or geographic boundary.” World Health Organization (WHO) In America, Epilepsy is as common as Breast Cancer and takes as many lives. This disease affects an estimated fifty million people worldwide. (Shafer 2014) Epilepsy is a neurological disorder consisting of recurrent seizures that are a result of excessive, uncontrolled electrical activity in the brain. Approximately ten percent of people will have a seizure in their lifetime, but not all people that have seizures have Epilepsy. (Seizures 2013) I will discuss epilepsy the seizures associated with this disorder, the anatomy involved, and the medical devices used to diagnose. There are two types of seizures provoked (nonepileptic) and unprovoked (epileptic). (Mayo 2013) A provoked seizure may occur when there is a root cause, for instance an infection in the brain, alcohol detox, and head trauma, along with many other examples. Although your chances of developing epilepsy does increase if you were to have a provoked seizure around forty to fifty percent, we will be focusing more on the unprovoked type. (Berg 2008) The unprovoked seizure occurs when there is no outside influence that can be determined. Epilepsy is characterized as having a long-term risk to experience numerous unprovoked seizures. (Coila 2010) Seizures have three parts: an Aura (the beginning), an Ictal phase (the middle), and the Postictal phase (the ending). Although all seizures have all three phases in some cases the parts of the seizure can be indistinguishable. The Aura is marked by the first symptom of a seizure for instance a change in feeling, sensation, or thought this will be similar each time a person has a seizure. The Ictal phase is the period of time from the first symptom to the ending, this is the time the brain produces the excess brain activity. This is the point in the seizure that a person may have loss of consciousness, convulsions, or memory lapse. The postictal phase is the recovery period. This period can be a few moments to few hours based on the severity of the seizure. This period varies greatly the person could be scared, confused, embarrassed, and even sleepy. (Schachter 2014) Diagnosing this disease is tricky using a series of classifications and diagnostic devices this can be accomplished. Seizures are classified into two major groups based on the type of behavior exhibited during the seizure, and brain activity. These two classes we will discuss are general and partial. General seizures are produced by electrical impulses throughout the brain, partial seizures as the name implies originate in a small area of the brain. These two groups seizures are then broke up into types of seizures six types for general and three types for partial depending upon the affects they have on the body. Seizures differ greatly from person to person many people lose consciousness and shake violently or could be as mild as a slight tremor of the hand. (Senelick 2014)