Case Report
Covid-19 decompensating epilepsy in the elderly: A case report

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102642Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • This article establishes the relationship between covid-19 and the risk of worsening seizures.

  • It demonstrates the severity of the association between covid-19 and epilepsy in the elderly.

  • Factors decompensating epilepsy have been studied but such cases are few or not frequent in the literature.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a great impact on chronic diseases, including epilepsy. The imbalance of antiepileptic drugs in case of intercurrent infection with COVID-19 leads to worsening seizures.

A 71-year-old man, followed for post-traumatic epilepsy for 30 years, was stabilized with phenobarbital and topiramate. He presented generalized tonic-clonic epileptic seizures without meningitis. He improved well on midazolam combined with the usual treatment before the diagnosis and worsening of the covid-19. The severity of the lung damage led to hypoxia, recurrence of seizures, and poor prognosis.

The association between covid-19 and epilepsy remains pejorative despite management.

An epileptic seizure should always be considered as a possible manifestation of COVID-19. The article aimed to establish the relationship between covid-19 and the risk of worsening seizures and to demonstrate the severity of the association between covid-19 and epilepsy in elderly patients.

Keywords

Covid-19
Epilepsy
Decompensation
Elderly patient
Case report

Abbreviations

COVID-19
Coronavirus Disease 2019
SCARE
surgical case reports
GCS
Glasgow Coma Scale
RT-PCR
Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction
Il 6
Interleukine 6

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