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Differential diagnosis

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Epilepsy 2011 Section Four: Differential diagnosis

Chapter 17: Non-epileptic paroxysmal neurological and cardiac events: the differential diagnosis of epilepsy

F.J. Rugg-Gunn

In this chapter:

  • Syncope
  • Drop attacks
  • Convulsive movements and transient focal hypermotor episodes
  • Transient focal sensory attacks
  • Psychic experiences
  • Aggressive or vocal outbursts
  • Prolonged confusional or fugue states

Download Non-epileptic paroxysmal neurological and cardiac events: the differential diagnosis of epilepsy (pdf format, will open in a new browser window). 

Chapter 18: Epilepsy and sleep

M.C. Walker and S.M. Sisodiya

In this chapter:

  • Normal sleep physiology and the relationship to seizures
  • The interaction of sleep disorders and epilepsy
  • The importance of sleep disorders in differential diagnosis

Download Epilepsy and sleep (pdf format, will open in a new browser window).

Chapter 19: The diagnosis and management of dissociative seizures

J.D.C. Mellers

In this chapter:

  • Definitions and terminology
  • Psychiatric disorders that may be mistaken for epilepsy
  • Factitious disorder and dissociative seizures: the concept of unconscious symptom generation
  • Clinical features of dissociative seizures
  • Investigations
  • Psychiatric formulation: an aetiological model of DS
  • Management
  • Treatment

Download The diagnosis and management of dissociative seizures (pdf format, will open in a new browser window).




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