A few thoughts on 'What is a seizure?'.

摘要

When discussing seizure detection or seizure prediction, the assumption is often that the object of study, the seizure, is clearly defined. If it is not possible to clearly define a seizure, how can we discuss its detection or its prediction? We will see that there are several definitions of "seizure," that the definition depends on the context of the study, and that we probably have to live with a fuzzy definition. Despite this fuzziness, however, it is possible to work effectively on seizure prediction and detection. We do not discuss below the issue of epileptic versus nonepileptic seizures and assume that the seizures under consideration are epileptic.The original definition of an epileptic seizure is that of a behavioral event, perceived by a patient or noted by an observer. The different types of epilepsy were defined from the careful observation of these behavioral events and the patients' descriptions of their feelings. Some of the behavioral manifestations are minimal (blushing, small muscle twitch), and some of the feelings described by the patient are minimal or uncertain (short inattention, slight tingling, strange feeling).