Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 9/25/2010

Question
Dr. Levy,

I want to thank you for taking time to read this, and I appreciate any insight on my situation.

5 days ago, my girlfriend Emma was in for a second ankle surgery, a quick operation to remove the screw in her ankle. General anesthetic was used, and the surgery went smoothly. In the recovery room, she suffered a seizure. This triggered immediate reaction by the doctors, and was taken to ICU. At the time she had been given morphine and Tylenol 3. After the seizure, vallium was given as well.
It might be notable that her lower body, right side ( opposite of surgery site) was numb, and not movable. And gradually regained feeling over the past 5 days, but remains very shaky. This made the seizures non symmetrical.

She continued to periodically seizure through out the next three day, with severity and quantity decreasing. EEG, MRI, Cat scan and blood tests returned nothing abnormal. A total of 9 seizures had past and she was released. Went home, slept well, and on the 5th day since the surgery, she had another, and  returned to the hospital.

During her first surgery, three months prior, there was no incident, except for a minor rash  blemish on her face.

I'm not sure what was used as anesthetic, but in the process of finding out.

I have read other sources attempting to link seizures and GA, but nothing concrete, and very uncommon... But yet to be determined.

Have you seen anything like this before? She is a very healthy 21 year old, and no major medical history. Everyone involved is at a loss, and any insight would be appreciated. I ask you to be as straight with me as possible, and use as much medical terminology as needed, I will understand...

Once again, I thank you for taking time to read this, and any information would truly be helpful. I want to leave this situation behind, and hope Emma recovers fully.

Kind regards,
Adli Nureddin

Answer
I am not familiar with any association between anesthesia and seizures. In fact, anesthesia is often used to break seizures. It is true that some anesthetic agents do lower the seizure threshold but that would not explain the continued seizures long after the anesthetic wore off. So my guess is that these seizures are unrelated to the anesthetic. I can't explain what did cause them but I suppose you have a neurologist on the case.

Good Luck,

Ronald Levy, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston