Epilepsy is one of the most common neurologic disease nowadays. There have been huge advances in the understanding of pathophysiology of epilepsy and in diagnosis and treatment of epileptic disorders in the course of the last 20 years. Epileptology has become an independent field in neurology. Nowadays, there are departments and centres in western Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia, which specialize only in care of patients with epilepsy. Centres for epilepsy have been established also in the Czech Republic. Epilepsy as a chronic disease influences many aspects of the life of epileptic patients. The complex care which deals not only with health problems but also mental and social difficulties prevalent in people with epilepsy is of a current trend. There are several common situations, when a neurologist and a physician reviewer meet. Mutual communication is one of the most important preconditions for preventing misunderstanding and mistakes. In this article, I would like to provide basic information on the current epileptologic terminology and the system of categorizing epilepsy according to the degree of compensation of an epileptic disease.

        Key words: epilepsy – epileptology – epileptic seizures