title: Lesion lateralization in patients with epilepsy and precocious destructive insults.
abstract: Destructive brain lesions that occur early in development are often unilateral or asymmetric. We analyzed the lateralization of lesions among a previously reported series of 51 patients with three kinds of destructive lesions based on their topography: specific arterial territory (AT), arterial borderzone territory (Bdz), hemispheric (H). Five patients (all from group Bdz) had bilateral nonlateralizing lesions. The distributions of left- and right-sided lesions were distinct among the groups (P=0.014): in group H, all patients except one presented with right-sided lesions (89%); in group Bdz, left-sided lesions (53%) were more frequent than right-sided lesions (17.7%); in group AT, left- and right-sided lesions were more equally distributed (56 and 44%). Our study suggests that there is a trend toward lesion lateralization among patients with different patterns of precocious destructive lesions. Differences in cerebral maturation and vulnerability between the hemispheres is a possible factor explaining lesion lateralization in early life insults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Li M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cendes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged