Atrial Fibrillation Associated With Epileptic Seizure
Atrial Fibrillation Friday, June 22nd, 2012Archneur.jamanetwork.com: Moshe Herskovitz, MD; Yitzhak Schiller, MD, PhD., Published online June 2012.
Epileptic seizures are often associated with changes in cardiac autonomic function. Yet atrial fibrillation (AFib) or atrial flutter (AFlu) following epileptic seizures has only rarely been reported in the past.
Objectives To describe and characterize patients who experienced lone AFib or AFlu as a consequence of epileptic seizures.
Design Case reports.
Setting University teaching hospital.
Patients We describe 4 patients who developed transient AFib following epileptic seizures and 1 patient who developed transient AFlu following epileptic seizures.
Results In all patients, AFib and AFlu followed a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. The arrhythmia usually lasted a few hours and converted spontaneously to a normal sinus rhythm. In 3 patients, AFib or AFlu developed during the first seizure they experienced, and none of the patients developed drug-resistant epilepsy. Moreover, none of the patients had a known cardiac disease, yet, in 2 patients, the cardiological workup demonstrated mild abnormalities on the cardiac stress test. Read More
