Seizures are unpredictable. When a person has a seizure, 它通常不在医生的办公室或其他医疗机构，在那里卫生保健提供者可以观察到发生了什么, so diagnosing seizures is a challenge. 准确的诊断取决于仔细的病史，并使用脑成像和其他测试来评估大脑中异常的电活动模式.

Electroencephalography (EEG)

Routine EEG: 用附着在头皮上的电极(传感器)监测大脑中的电信号通常首先在专门的门诊诊所进行. These studies are interpreted, or “read,” by a trained neurologist. 临床医生可以发现大脑中异常电活动的证据，并找出患者癫痫发作的类型, as well as the origin(s), by measuring brain waves over minutes to a couple of hours.

Prolonged EEGs: If a routine EEG is normal, diagnosing seizures may require a stay in an epilepsy monitoring unit for continuous EEG monitoring with video over several days. Prolonged video-EEG monitoring 使用摄像机与脑电图同时捕捉癫痫发作的开始和特征.

Radiologic Testing

一些癫痫发作是由于脑组织内的不规则, such as scars, tumors or other lesions that can show up on radiologic imaging. Some of these issues can be treated with epilepsy surgery. Radiologic tests include:

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

A brain MRI allows a physician to clearly see a patient’s internal body structures, including brain tissue, using magnetic fields and radio waves.

通过在被称为“切割”的横截面图像中揭示大脑结构的细节,MRI可以帮助医生定位结构变化区域(局灶性癫痫患者称为癫痫灶，多灶性癫痫患者称为癫痫灶)内或附近可能产生癫痫的区域。.

癫痫的诊断方案可能包括三维部分和特殊的冠状切口，这样癫痫专家就可以评估颞叶是否有颞叶内侧硬化或大脑海马畸形的迹象.

对于全身性癫痫(癫痫发作来自整个大脑而不是局部或多灶区)的患者，可能不需要或不适合进行脑MRI检查。.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 可以帮助定位语言、记忆、运动或其他功能发生的区域. Doctors understand the general brain areas responsible for these activities, but fMRI can help pinpoint them more precisely.

During fMRI of the brain, the technologist will ask the patient to perform a specific task, such as naming objects, which illuminates active areas of the brain. 这有助于医生关注可能受癫痫疾病影响的特定功能中心.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

A brain scan called an interictal fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET scan can show changes in brain metabolism and chemistry, 在评估患有多种影响大脑疾病的患者时，哪一种有价值, especially epilepsy.

This is a nuclear medicine procedure. 患者戴着塑料口罩，帮助定位扫描仪. 技术人员将少量放射性物质注射到推荐十大正规网赌平台手臂的静脉中, at the same time, taking a blood sample from the other arm. 当这些物质在大脑中移动时，扫描仪就会显示并记录下变化.

Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)

Also called “ictal SPECT”, 这个程序可以检测大脑中细胞代谢变化的区域, blood flow, or transmissions between brain cells during a seizure. 这些活动改变的区域可以表明特定患者的癫痫引起的条件.

该测试在一个监测单元中进行，医生和推荐十大正规网赌平台在那里等待癫痫发作. The first part of the test occurs during a seizure (ictal), and the second is after the seizure (interictal); the doctors then compare these two studies. During each of the two stages, 医疗专业人员会给推荐十大正规网赌平台注射显像剂，然后把推荐十大正规网赌平台送到专门的扫描仪前，在那里可以看到脑部的血流情况.

Intracranial Monitoring

医生使用颅内监测技术来观察患者癫痫发作的特征，并将这些发现与临床表现联系起来 electroencephalogram, or EEG. The tests can include the following:

Depth electrodes: These are small, 多接触式探针，通过颅骨和大脑覆盖物上的小孔插入.

Strip and grid electrodes: 这些小的铂金圆盘装在一张塑料片里，然后插入大脑的硬脑膜下面.

Depth, 条状和网格状电极记录癫痫发作期间和发作期间的脑电波活动，为癫痫手术做准备.

Other Epilepsy Tests

Wada Test

When epilepsy surgery is indicated to address seizures, this two-part test is part of a patient’s pre-surgical work-up. The test can predict the impact of surgery on language and memory function. Information from the Wada test 帮助确定手术类型，以最好地治疗癫痫发作，同时保留大脑中与语言有关的区域, memory and thinking functions.

Neuro-psychological Assessment

一些癫痫患者患有记忆问题或其他认知困难, such as trouble coming up with the correct word to use in a conversation. These problems may result from repeated seizures, medications, or a brain disease that is causing the seizures.

定量评估可以深入了解严重程度，并指出引起癫痫发作的病变位置. 神经心理学评估可以衡量患者的认知(思维)能力，因为它们与不同大脑结构的功能有关. For example, 记忆受损可能表明大脑中颞叶和额叶的功能异常.