Chronic Epilepsy Does Not Cause Measurable Structural Changes on MRI

Abstract

The Structural Consequences of Newly Diagnosed SeizuresLiu RSN, Lemieux L, Bell GS, Sisodiya SM, Bartlett PA, Shorvon SD, Sander JWAS, Duncan JSAnn Neurol 2002;52:573–580Intractable epilepsy may be associated with widespread structural cerebral damage. We determined whether structural damage occurs to the hippocampus, cerebellum, and neocortex in the first few years after a diagnosis of seizures. Sixty-eight patients older than 14 years with newly diagnosed seizures and 90 matched controls underwent serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans 3.5 years apart. Using quantitative analysis of serial scans, we determined changes in hippocampal volume, hippocampal T2 relaxometry, and total and regional brain volumes. Thirty-four (50%) patients had recurrent unprovoked seizures between baseline and follow-up scans. One patient with preexisting hippocampal sclerosis (HS) did not develop progressive hippocampal damage. Group analyses found no difference in change in cerebral measures between patients and ...