Early childhood prolonged febrile convulsions, atrophy and sclerosis of mesial structures, and temporal lobe epilepsy: an MRI volumetric study.
We performed MRI volumetric measurements of the amygdala (AM) and hippocampal formation (HF) in a group of 43 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy not controlled by optimal drug treatment. Fifteen patients (35%) had a history of prolonged febrile convulsions (PFC) in early childhood; 30 patients underwent surgery, and histopathology was available in twenty-four. The mean values of AM and HF volumes ipsilateral to the EEG focus were significantly smaller than those of normal controls. The volumetric measurements showed a more pronounced atrophy of the AM in patients with a history of PFC, although the HF volumes were also smaller in this group. Patients with a history of PFC had a higher proportion of more severe mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) compared with those with no PFC. These findings confirm a correlation between early childhood PFC, the severity of atrophy of mesial structures, and MTS.
Cendes
F
F
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Andermann
F
F
Dubeau
F
F
Gloor
P
P
Evans
A
A
Jones-Gotman
M
M
Olivier
A
A
Andermann
E
E
Robitaille
Y
Y
Lopes-Cendes
I
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000473:pathology; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001284:Atrophy; D002648:Child; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values