CANCER COMPLICATING AND MODIFYING THE COURSE OF EPILEPSY
Abstract
The data which have been presented seem to indicate that acidosis and alkalosis are not immediate factors in controlling and precipitating seizures, although they may act indirectly by favoring dehydration and hydration respectively. The influence of oxygen tension on the capillary permeability and the effect of oxygen administration on cerebral functions have been suggested as important factors in controlling convulsions. Attention has been directed to the relation of vasomotor activity to brain metabolism and other, equally obscure, physicochemical processes. In a review of 55 cases of malignancy complicating epilepsy it was shown that the number of seizures decreased as the malignancy progressed. Only eight of the 55 cases showed an increase in seizures during the progress of the malignancy. There was either no change or a decrease in seizures in 47 cases. There was a definite decrease in frequency of seizures in 32 of the total 55 cases. Alkalosis, which may be associateci with cancer, obviously does not induce seizures in epileptic patients. Cachexia and dehydration incident to malignant neoplasms probably raise the convulsion threshold which accounts for the decrease in seizures.
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