Epilepsia em cães: revisão de literatura

Abstract

Epileptic seizures are manifestations of neurological disorders and often occur in the clinic of small animals, especially in dogs. Has a varied etiology, but in some situations there is not an identifiable cause, then it is know that the idiopathic epilepsy is the most common cause of recurrent seizures in dogs. In spite of the high frequency, few drugs are available for the treatment of dogs and most of the clinicians cannot achieve succeed in therapy. This occurs by incorrect monitoring the patient, because of the lack of clarification of the owners or by most of the times because they are confronted with partial seizures, barely perceptible in the day-to-day activities and in the clinical examination. In most of cases, the success in therapy is reflected by a reduction in the frequency of seizures or even in its intensity, since the complete remission of this manifestation is extremely difficult to occur. The most commonly used drugs are the phenobarbital and potassium bromide. The newer, are intended for complementary therapy, because of the short plasma half-life and the lack information of their effects in small animals. When a seizure is not well controlled, "status epilepticus" may occur, which is a situation that requires emergency treatment and care of clinical. The main objective of this work is achieve a broad approach on epileptic seizures, talk about definitions, etiology and pathogenesis, and discuss the main points involving diagnosis and treatment of this neurological disorder