Considerations about late-onset epilepsy

Objective. To make a revision of the general point of view on late-onset epilepsy known as epilepsy that starts in the mature age after 25 years old; around 25% of the patients with epilepsy had their first crisis after that age, with an increase in the incidence in the course of the age. Development. The main ethiologies are discussed, standing out: alcoholism (22%), stroke (18%), tumors (10%), metabolic imbalances (10116), infections of the CNS, trauma, atrophies and cisticercosis, For the diagnosis is required a complete clinical evaluation, cardiovascular examination, metabolic tests, EEG and neuroimage studies. Conclusions. Monotherapy with phenobarbital, carbamazepine and valproate, control 80% of cases and failure related to patients with wide spread cerebral damage.