Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Retrospective clinical comparison of idiopathic versus symptomatic epilepsy in 240 dogs with seizures.
- Journal:
- Acta veterinaria Hungarica
- Year:
- 2008
- Authors:
- Pákozdy, Akos et al.
- Affiliation:
- Clinic for Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
This study looked at 240 dogs that had seizures to understand the differences between two types of epilepsy: idiopathic epilepsy (where the cause is unknown) and symptomatic epilepsy (where there is a known cause). The researchers found that idiopathic epilepsy was diagnosed in about 48% of the dogs, while symptomatic epilepsy was often linked to brain tumors or inflammation. They noticed that dogs with symptomatic epilepsy tended to have more severe symptoms, like partial seizures, clusters of seizures, or changes in their neurological status. Additionally, if a dog's first seizure happened between the ages of one and five or while they were resting, it was more likely to be idiopathic epilepsy. Overall, the study highlighted important differences between these two types of epilepsy in dogs.
Abstract
In the present study, 240 cases of dogs with seizures were analysed retrospectively. The aim was to examine the underlying aetiology and to compare primary or idiopathic epilepsy (IE) with symptomatic epilepsy (SE) concerning signalment, history, ictal pattern, clinical and neurological findings. The diagnosis of symptomatic epilepsy was based on confirmed pathological changes in haematology, serum biochemistry, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis and morphological changes of the brain by CT/MRI or histopathological examination. Seizure aetiologies were classified as idiopathic epilepsy (IE, n = 115) and symptomatic epilepsy (SE, n = 125). Symptomatic epilepsy was mainly caused by intracranial neoplasia (39) and encephalitis (23). The following variables showed significant difference between the IE and SE group: age, body weight, presence of partial seizures, cluster seizures, status epilepticus, ictal vocalisation and neurological deficits. In 48% of the cases, seizures were found to be due to IE, while 16% were due to intracranial neoplasia and 10% to encephalitis. Status epilepticus, cluster seizures, partial seizures, vocalisation during seizure and impaired neurological status were more readily seen with symptomatic epilepsy. If the first seizure occurred between one and five years of age or the seizures occurred during resting condition, the diagnosis was more likely IE than SE.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19149102/