Factors predictive of outcome in posttraumatic seizures.
BACKGROUND
Seizures are important neurologic complications of traumatic brain injury (TBI). There is a need for better delineation of potential prognostic factors and outcomes in patients with posttraumatic seizures (PTS) who could receive treatment when brought to the hospital.


METHODS
In this 10-year retrospective study, 170 adult patients with PTS were enrolled in this study. The degree of seizure control was analyzed using a Seizure Frequency Scoring System, which classified them into excellent and nonexcellent outcomes.


RESULTS
There were 170 patients with acute symptomatic seizure enrolled in this study, 106 of whom had early PTS, whereas 64 had late PTS. Of the 106 early PTS, 58% (61 of 106) occurred within 24 hours of trauma. Risk factors for developing nonexcellent outcome included patients who undergo surgical intervention and presence of late-provoked seizures during the acute phase of TBI.


CONCLUSIONS
Seizures are an important neurologic complication of TBI. Regarding the potentially side effects of antiepileptic drugs, antiepileptic therapy should be carefully administrated in those nonexcellent outcome patients.
Wang
Hung-Chen
HC
Departments of Neurosurgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical Center, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, China.
Chang
Wen-Neng
WN
Chang
Hsueh-Wen
HW
Ho
Jih-Tsun
JT
Yang
Tzu-Ming
TM
Lin
Wei-Che
WC
Chuang
Yao-Chung
YC
Lu
Cheng-Hsien
CH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004834:Epilepsy, Post-Traumatic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012640:Seizures / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis
D000927:Anticonvulsants