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Epilepsy

Inherited epilepsy

02/27/2009

Question:

My mother was hospitalized after having two seizures (in the doctor`s office and in the ER) in October of 2007. The neurosurgeon approached me in the ICU and said she had epilepsy "Do you or your brother suffer from seizures?" I said "no" and he said he was surprised. However, he immediately said my mother had a blood count of 5.1 and was in need of some tests to see what the problem was. We got caught up in that (ended up with AMLeukemia and is now deceased). During all of this, I did not follow up with the neurosurgeon, in fact never saw him again, but his comment is bothering me. Could an EEG or MRI tell him something that significant?

Answer:

The EEG and MRI are done for several reasons. They are done to look for the possible causes of seizures and also to determine the potential risk for seizure recurrence. 

For more information:

Go to the Epilepsy health topic, where you can:

Response by:

David M Ficker, MD David M Ficker, MD
Associate Professor
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati