Intellectual and Electrophysiological Disturbances in the Definition of ‘Seizure’: Michael Sperling, MD

WATCH TIME: 3 minutes

“I think it's worthwhile, as we more carefully address seizures, that perhaps we start to look at these other electrophysiological things, which is separate from the seizure discussion. But in carving them out of that to think about addressing them more carefully, thinking about new approaches to diagnosing and treating problems that may be associated with them.”

A common theme across the neurology field is patient involvement in processes such as with medical definitions, for example, defining what a seizure is with patients with epilepsy. Although patients are being considered to participate in defining medical terms and conditions, there is still confusion and challenges with this process. Additionally, there is a huge conversation about the lay public's understanding of what is a seizure and what is epilepsy. ‘Seizure’ has been a term that has multiple disparities to the experience, and thus having a more specific definition provided by clinicians and patients may bring out more targeted therapies.

Michael Sperling, MD, an attendee from the 2022 American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting, held December 2 to 6, in Nashville, Tennessee, sat down with NeurologyLive^® in an interview to share his clinical perspective of the definition of a seizure in regard to patients with epilepsy. He addressed the current challenges with defining seizures in a more specific way considering the various presentations. Sperling, Baldwin Keyes professor of neurology, Thomas Jefferson University, highlighted an additional point on the type of seizures that need more attention in the clinical field.

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