Abstract

CURRENT CONCEPT IN THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF GENETIC GENERALIZED EPILEPSY (GGE): A CRITICAL REVIEW

Balarabe S. A.* and Watila M. M.

ABSTRACT

Background: Report of International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Commission on epidemiology suggests that about 65 million people in the world have epilepsy and approximately 80% of cases occur in developing countries with little or no access to medical facilities or treatment. The burden of and the global socio-economic costs afforded by epilepsy are enormous and it's deleterious effect on psychological, cognitive and social functioning on those who are affected are often substantial and devastating. Approximately 60% of epilepsy has no identifiable cause other than a genetic predisposition, of this Genetic Generalized Epilepsy (GGE) occupy a central position. The general concept of Genetic Generalized Epilepsy (GGE) is that of an epilepsy syndrome that consist only of recurrent epileptic seizure which are not associated with any visible structural brain lesions on MRI or abnormal neurological signs and symptoms between seizure attacks and have preserved or normal neuropsychological status and with presumed genetic etiology. However, evidence has been accumulating suggesting that subtle but probably significant morphological and neurochemical alterations exist in both cortex and thalamus in GGE.

Keywords: Epilepsy, voxel-based morphometry, Genetic Generalized Epilepsy, Gray matter volume.