Epilepsy after ishemic stroke: is it worth administering anticonvulsants after the first attack?

Introduction: Epileptic attacks frequency in patients after stroke ranges widely from 3 % up to 60 %. Today many aspects of this problem in post-stroke epilepsy haven't been completely studied, regarding the problem of the time for administering antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). The aim of this study was to define the prognosis of symptomatic epilepsy development after stroke depending on the patients taking AEDs after the first epileptic attack. Materials and methods: We perform a complex examination of 1012 patients (562 males and 450 females) aged from 49 up to 90 who had suffered from ischemic stroke during 2011-2014. Neurologic examinations were carried out according to the conventional methods scaling score NIHSS (National Institute of Health Scale of Stroke Severity, USA). Results: It was revealed that within 6 months after the ischemic stroke at least one epileptic attack was observed in 151 patients. According to the type of attacks focal attacks (80.9%, p