Recommendation for a definition of acute symptomatic seizure

Systematic review of the literature and of epidemiologic studies.

An acute symptomatic seizure is defined as a clinical seizure occurring at the time of a systemic insult or in close temporal association with a documented brain insult. Suggestions are made to define acute symptomatic seizures as those events occurring within 1 week of stroke, traumatic brain injury, anoxic encephalopathy, or intracranial surgery; at first identification of subdural hematoma; at the presence of an active central nervous system (CNS) infection; or during an active phase of multiple sclerosis or other autoimmune diseases. In addition, a diagnosis of acute symptomatic seizure should be made in the presence of severe metabolic derangements (documented within 24 h by specific biochemical or hematologic abnormalities), drug or alcohol intoxication and withdrawal, or exposure to well-defined epileptogenic drugs.