THYROTOXICOSIS AS A CAUSE OF CEREBRAL DYSRHYTHMIA AND CONVULSIVE SEIZURES

Abstract

Electroencephalograms (eeg) were recorded on 44 patients before and after treatment for thyrotoxicosis. Before treatment definitely abnormal eeg were seen in 43% of the patients and borderline eeg in 25%. Generalized slow activity was seen in 30% of the patients while focal activity was observed in 9%. Most of the patients with borderline eeg had an excess amount of fast activity. Following relief from thyrotoxicosis the eeg abnormalities regressed in 16 of 19 patients with definitely abnormal eeg and in 4 of the 11 patients with borderline eeg. Abnormal eeg and thyrotoxicosis were not related to the severity or duration of the disease or to the systolic blood pressure but might possibly be more common in the higher age groups. It was shown that thyrotoxicosis can cause major convulsive seizures and it was suggested that thyrotoxicosis can increase the frequency of convulsive attacks in an already epileptic patient.