Time Interval Between Traumatic Brain Injury And Post Traumatic Epilepsy

Abstract

Introduction. The estimated time interval in which an individual can develop Post Traumatic Epilepsy (PTE) after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not clear. Objective. To assess the possible influence of the clinical features in the time interval between TBI and PTE develop­ment. Method. We analyzed retrospectively 400 medical records from a tertiary Brazilian hospital. We selected and reevaluated 50 patients and data was confronted with the time between TBI and PTE devel­opment by a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. A Cox-hazard regression was also conducted to define the characteristics that could be involved in the latent period of the PTE development. Results. Patients devel­oped PTE especially in the first year (56%). We found a tendency of a faster development of PTE in patients older than 24 years (P<0.0001) and in men (P=0.03). Complex partial seizures evolving to generalized seizures were predominant in patients after moderate (37.7%) and severe (48.8%) TBIs, and simple partial seizures evolving to general­ized seizures in mild TBIs (45.5%). Conclusions. Our data suggest that the first year after a TBI is the most critical period for PTE de­velopment and those males older than 24 years could have a faster development of PTE.