title: MR imaging in epilepsy that is refractory to medical therapy.
abstract: The aim of this study was the assessment of detection rate on MRI and description of MRI findings in patients with medically intractable epilepsy. Seventy-three patients with medically intractable epilepsy between the ages of 0 and 68 years old were evaluated by MRI, on three planes with spin-echo T1, fast spin-echo T2, and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery sequences, and, if necessary, with contrast-enhanced SE T1 sequences. Cerebral infarct regions with atrophy and gliosis in 8 patients, cerebral tumors in 5 patients, hippocampal sclerosis in 16 patients, radial microbrain in 1 patient, cortical dysplasia in 3 patients, pachygyria in 2 patients, subcortical heterotopia in 2 patients, schizencephaly in 3 patients, cerebral hemiatrophy in 2 patients, tuberous sclerosis in 1 patient, herpes encephalitis in 2 patients, Rasmussen's encephalitis in 1 patient, vascular malformations in 5 patients, and no abnormality in 22 patients were detected. Magnetic resonance imaging has a high success rate in detecting structural brain abnormalities, of both temporal and extratemporal locations, associated with medically intractable epilepsy syndromes. So MRI plays a primary role in planning of the treatment, primarily surgical therapy, by detecting structural epileptogenic lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Istanbul Sisli Etfal Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. scakirer@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cakirer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Başak
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mutlu
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Galip
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004351:Drug Resistance; D020804:Encephalitis, Varicella Zoster / Q000150:complications; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications