Category: Parkinson's Disease: Neurophysiology
Objective: We aim to evaluate seizure frequency in patients with parkinsonism in a tertiary centre.
Background: Observational studies suggest that the prevalence of epilepsy in patients with Parkinson Disease is higher than in general population, which can point to a role of the neurodegenerative process in seizure genesis, as already have been theorised in cases with dementia.
Method: Retrospective study based on data collected from clinical information from the period of time between January 2018 and December 2021.
Results: We gathered a sample of 19 patients, 10 men and 9 women, with ages between 52 and 89 years (average of 76 years). More than a half of the patients had been diagnosed with parkinsonism for 5 years or more. We identified 8 individuals with idiopathic Parkinson Disease (iPD), 3 with atypical parkinsonism (2 with iPD plus and 1 with Multiple System Atrophy), 3 with vascular parkinsonism, 2 with iatrogenic parkinsonism and in 3 the nature of the syndrome was still being accessed. 14 patients had dementia and only 2 had a previous diagnosis of epilepsy. We documented motor focal seizures, non-motor focal seizures, generalised seizures, seizures of unknown beginning and acute symptomatic seizures. 15 patients showed unprovoked seizures. 3 patients presented with non-convulsive status epilepticus. In 7 cases, EEG supported the clinically stablished diagnosis.
Conclusion: In our sample, most patients (12/19) with parkinsonism and epilepsy also had a diagnosis of dementia. This observation seems to support the previously reported hypothesis of a shared pathophysiologic mechanism linking the neurodegenerative process observed in dementia and the phenomena responsible for seizure generation. It is important to point out the observed prevalence of status epilepticus, higher than expected given the relatively short dimension of our sample.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
C. Azoia, R. Jesus, A. Costa, A. Velon, P. Guimarães. Epileptic seizures in patients with parkinsonism: experience of a tertiary centre [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2022; 37 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/epileptic-seizures-in-patients-with-parkinsonism-experience-of-a-tertiary-centre/. Accessed May 15, 2025.« Back to 2022 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/epileptic-seizures-in-patients-with-parkinsonism-experience-of-a-tertiary-centre/