A new tool that can help predict the risk of epilepsy developing after venous stroke has been created by an international team of researchers.
A blood clot in the brain (cerebral venous thrombosis) can cause a stroke, and people can experience a seizure as part of this.
The team of researchers, from 15 centres across three continents, wanted to develop a tool to help identify the risk of this turning into epilepsy (recurrent seizures).
In a paper in JAMA Neurology, Dr Erik Lindgren Bogdanoff and colleagues presented the DIAS3 tool, freely available online to clinicians. In their research of 1128 people, 11% developed epilepsy after a blood clot in the brain. The researchers found that the tool could adequately predict the risk of epilepsy developing.
The researchers said that with this tool, preventative treatment can be considered between patients and their doctors.
Dr Lindgren Bogdanoff, from the University of Gothenburg said: “The calculator predicts the risk of epilepsy based on factors that are already available in clinical routine when the person is hospitalised, there is therefore no need for additional tests or investigations.”
He said that people with a blood clot in the brain need to know what the aftermath would be. “Priorly, we have not been able to predict what patients have the highest risk of developing epilepsy after cerebral venous thrombosis.”
There’s more information on causes of epilepsy on the Epilepsy Action website.
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