Seizure types

In the field of neurology, seizure types are categories of seizures defined by seizure behavior, symptoms, and diagnostic tests. The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) 2017 classification of seizures is the internationally recognized standard for identifying seizure types. The ILAE 2017 classification of seizures is a revision of the prior ILAE 1981 classification of seizures. Distinguishing between seizure types is important since different types of seizures may have different causes, outcomes, and treatments. In ~2500 B.C., the Sumerians provided the first writings about seizures. Later in ~1050 B.C., the Babylonian scholars developed the first seizure classification, inscribing their medical knowledge in the stone tablets called Sakikku or in English "All Diseases." This early classification identified febrile seizures, absence seizures, generalized tonic-clonic seizures, focal seizures, impaired awareness seizures, and status epilepticus. Samuel-Auguste Tissot (1728–1797) authored Traité de l’Epilepsie, a book describing grand état (generalized tonic-clonic seizures) and petit état (absence seizures). Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol (1772–1840) later introduced grand mal (generalized tonic-clonic seizures) and petit mal to describe these seizures. In 1937, Gibbs and Lennox introduced psychomotor seizures, seizures with "mental, emotional, motor, and autonomic phenomena." Henri Gastaut led the effort to develop the ILAE 1969 classification of seizures based on clinical seizure type, electroencephalogram (EEG), anatomical substrate, etiology, and age of onset. The ILAE 1981 classification of seizure included information from EEG-video seizure recordings, but excluded anatomical substrate, etiology, and age factors as these factors were "historical or speculative" rather than directly observed. The ILAE 2017 classification of seizures closely reflects clinical practice, using observed seizure behavior and additional data to identify seizure types.