A great deal of epilepsy research in humans and animals has focused on the question of whether seizures cause brain damage, existing underlying brain damage causes seizures, or a combination of both. Because there are so many different factors involved, including the specific epilepsy syndrome, other health conditions, the age of the child, the age at which epilepsy began, the treatment regimen, and the child’s particular characteristics, this is a difficult question to answer.
The discussion over whether single, brief seizures cause brain damage continues. It is not clear whether single seizures can cause cell death or if it is the cumulative effect of many seizures that cause damage.
We know that:
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While children who have multiple seizures over a long period of time are at risk for long-term effects, children who have only one or a few brief seizures in their lives usually do not have long-term consequences.
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In animal studies, seizures lasting more than 30 minutes and frequent, recurrent seizures appear to cause some brain cell death and may affect learning and memory. We don’t yet know how these animal studies translate to the care of children.
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If the child’s epilepsy is caused by underlying abnormalities of the brain, this problem or abnormality may also cause learning and behaviour problems.
Learning problems and behaviour problems are discussed in more detail in the “At Home and At School” section of this site.