Epilepsy and Mental Retardation
Description:... The latest in our successful series of epilepsy edited by this experienced Scandinavian group addressed the clinically challenging area of epilepsy in mentally retarded patients. While epilepsy and intellectual disability are frequently comorbid (each may precipitate the other and both can be a consequence of brain damage), their elucidation can be complex; there is a high risk of misdiagnosis due to the occurence in mentally retarded patients of paroxysmal phenomena which resemble epileptic seizures, and the presentation of other psychiatric problems can obscure symptoms of epilepsy. Treatment too, is problematic with a tendency towards polytherapy with its increased risk of undesirable side effects which are less easily discovered and poorly tolerated in mentally retarded patients.Such patients have in the past usually been institutionalized but they are now more often in ambulatory or primary care, There is thus a greater than ever need to recognize the particular difficulties involved withtheir care.This book clarifies interrelationships between mental retardation, intellectual deterioration, and epilepsy and delivers practical solutions to the problems associated with accurate diagnosis, treatment, and long term management of epilepsy in patients with intellectual disabilities.
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