[Cryptogenic cerebral atrophy in late-onset epilepsy].
174 subjects suffering from late onset epilepsy were examined. The incidence of cerebral atrophy, defined with objective criteria on CT scans by means of a comparative analysis with a matched for age control group was 37.9%. Head traumas, cerebrovascular disorders and alcoholism were the presumed etiological factors in most of the cases while in 25 subjects (20%) the etiology of cerebral atrophy remained unknown ("cryptogenous atrophy"). Clinical profil, psychometric performance and EEG characteristics of these subjects were investigated and compared with the remainder groups of late-onset epileptics. The results obtained show that the subjects with cryptogenous atrophy behave, as regard the features considered, as the late-onset epileptics with normal CT but present an higher familial prevalence for epilepsy. On the contrary they differs in various ways from late-onset epileptics with atrophy of known origin and from epileptics with focal lesions.
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications; D001284:Atrophy; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000150:complications; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000150:complications; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans
L'atrofia cerebrale criptogenetica nell'epilessia ad insorgenza tardiva.