History of simple febrile seizures is associated with hippocampal abnormalities in adults.
BACKGROUND
It is unclear whether the hippocampal abnormality in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a consequence or the cause of afebrile or febrile seizures (FSs). We investigated whether hippocampal abnormalities are present in healthy adults>15 years after a simple FS.


METHODS
Eight healthy subjects (5 men) with a history of simple FS (FS+ group) and eight sex- and aged-matched control subjects (FS- group) were investigated by three MR methods: blinded visual inspection of the MRI pictures; automatic voxel-based volumetry; and T2 relaxation time measurements.


RESULTS
The mean total volume of the two hippocampi was 5.36 +/- 1.33 cm(3)in the FS+ group and 6.63 +/- 1.46 cm(3)in the FS- group (p = 0.069). The T2 values in the anterior part of the left hippocampus (p = 0.036) and in the middle part of the right hippocampus (p = 0.025) were elevated in the FS+ subjects. The mean volume of the right hippocampus was 3.05 +/- 0.8 cm(3)in the FS+ men and 4.05 +/- 0.48 cm(3)in the FS- men (p = 0.043). The mean total volume of the two hippocampi was 5.38 +/- 1.4 cm(3)in the FS+ men and 7.48 +/- 1.14 cm(3)in the FS- men (p = 0.043). There were three FS+ men in whom hippocampal abnormalities including hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and dysgenesis were observed on visual inspection.


CONCLUSIONS
A history of simple FS in childhood can be associated with hippocampal abnormalities in adults. These abnormalities are probably more pronounced in men. Simple FS may not be as a benign event as previously thought. Our findings suggest that hippocampal abnormalities associated with FS are not necessarily epileptogenic.
Auer
Tibor
T
Department of Neurology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
Barsi
Peter
P
Bone
Beata
B
Angyalosi
Anna
A
Aradi
Mihaly
M
Szalay
Csaba
C
Horvath
Reka A
RA
Kovacs
Norbert
N
Kotek
Gyula
G
Fogarasi
Andras
A
Komoly
Samuel
S
Janszky
Imre
I
Schwarcz
Attila
A
Janszky
József
J
D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000002:abnormalities*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D003294:Seizures, Febrile / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*