A chronic disorder, found in cerebral palsy, that is characterized by paroxysmal brain dysfunction due to excessive neuronal discharge, and usually associated with some alteration of consciousness. The clinical manifestations of the attack may vary from complex abnormalities of behavior including generalized or focal convulsions to momentary spells of impaired consciousness. These clinical states have been subjected to a variety of classifications, none universally accepted to date and, accordingly, the terminologies used to describe the different types of attacks remain purely descriptive and non-standardized; they are variously based on: 1. the clinical manifestations of the seizure (motor, sensory, reflex, psychic or vegetative), 2. the pathological substrate (hereditary, inflammatory, degenerative, neoplastic, traumatic, or cryptogenic), 3. the location of the epileptogenic lesion (Rolandic, temporal, diencephalic regions), and 4. the time of life at which the attacks occur (nocturnal, diurnal, menstrual, etc.). Also known as convulsive state, epilepsy, and falling sickness.
See Angelman syndrome, Cerebral palsy, Entorhinal cortex, Fragile X syndrome, Phenylketonuria (PKU), Rett’s syndrome