There are several diseases associated with epilepsy. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures or violent muscle spasms. Although epilepsy has numerous possible causes--including illness, traumatic head and brain injuries and aberrant brain growth and development--in most cases, the cause of epilepsy is unknown.
Tumor
Tumors can cause epileptic seizures. According to Cornell University, some brain tumors can cause seizures over a prolonged period without causing other symptoms; such tumors are usually slow growing, benign lesions. Brain tumors that can cause epileptic seizures include glial tumors, glioneuronal tumors and other tumors of the temporal lobe. Cornell University states that glial tumors, such as astrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas, develop from brain cells known as glia that surround neurons or nerve cells, and that glial tumors are categorized as fast-growing or slow-growing. Slow-growing glial tumors account for up to 70 percent of tumors that cause epilepsy. Glioneuronal tumors, such as gangliogliomas and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial, or DNT tumors, are a combination of glial and neuronal cells, and they often cause partial seizures. Other tumors in the brain's temporal lobe, especially ones that affect a person's hippocampus and amygdala--two important brain structures--can also produce epileptic seizures.
Stroke
Strokes can cause epileptic seizures. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke ,or NINDS--a division of the National Institutes of Health--states that the brain's attempts to repair itself following a traumatic head injury, stroke or other problem can inadvertently produce aberrant nerve connections that cause epileptic seizures. Stroke, heart attacks and other conditions that starve the brain of oxygen may cause epilepsy in some cases. According to the organization Stroke Awareness For Everyone, or SAFE, one of the many sequelae or aftereffects of stroke is the onset of epileptic-like seizures or recurrent seizures. Among older individuals who develop seizures for the first time, stroke is often the underlying cause. SAFE notes that stroke-related seizures are usually the result of hemorrhages in which blood squirts out of an artery into brain tissue. The pressure of the blood tears the brain tissue as it creates a space for itself outside the artery.
Infection
Infections can cause epileptic seizures. According to Epilepsy Ontario--a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with seizure disorders--approximately 1 percent of children in industrialized nations experience a central nervous system, or CNS, infection by the age of 10, and those children that survive the infection have a 5 to 10 percent greater likelihood of developing epilepsy. Epilepsy Ontario states that a child's risk for epilepsy does not depend on the age at which the infection occurs, but it does vary based on the cause of the infection. Possible sources of CNS infection include aseptic meningitis, bacterial meningitis, viral encephalitis and brain abscesses. According to Epilepsy Ontario, approximately 5 percent of people will have one or more infection-related seizures during a CNS infection, and those who have infection-related seizures have a greater risk of developing epilepsy later in life.
