The purpose of this study is to determine whether patients with epilepsy exhibiting impaired dCA, which may contribute to subsequent stroke.

The relationship between epileptic seizures and cerebrovascular disease is complex, ranging from mechanisms to clinical manifestation. Stroke is one of the most common causes of epilepsy in adulthood. It was also reported that patients with epilepsy exhibited a higher risk of stroke. But its potential mechanism was never fully understood. Dynamic cerebral autoregulation(dCA), a mechanism to maintain the cerebral bold flow, has been proved to be critical for the occurrence ,development and prognosis of ischemic neurovascular disease. In this study, we hypothesis that impaired dCA play a role in epilepsy and subsequent stroke.

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients with epilepsy, as diagnosed by EEG

Exclusion Criteria:

• patients with status epilepticus
• intracranial and/or extracranial major vascular stenosis/occlusion diagnosed by a transcranial Doppler (EMS-9PB, Delica, China) and carotid ultrasound (IU22, Phillips, Andover, MA)
• a prior symptomatic cerebral vascular disease
• a history of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hyperlipemia, current arrhythmia, hyperthyroidism, anemia and unstable blood pressure, which may undermine hemodynamic stability, or inability to cooperate sufficiently to complete the cerebral auto regulation examination
• insufficient bilateral temporal bone windows for insonation of the middle cerebral artery
• intolerance to cerebral autoregulation measurements

Consecutive patients with a diagnosis of epilepsy were recruited from the Department of Neurology, First Hospital of Jilin University, China. Patient was diagnosed with epilepsy by two neurologists according to the consequence of EEG.