Epileptic seizures following ischaemic cerebral infarction

Summary

Clinical, CT and EEG findings of 100 consecutive patients suffering from epileptic seizures following hemispheric cerebral infarction were evaluated retrospectively. All patients were followed up for an average of 49 months. Twelve patients suffered from cardiogenic brain embolism, 20 had an occlusive disease of the internal cerebral artery. Forty-seven patients had a single middle cerebral artery infarct, 6 each a posterior cerebral artery or watershed infarct. CT showed lacunes in only 6 cases, 8 had multiple larger infarcts and 27 were normal. Seventy-six patients suffered from generalized seizures, 54 from partial fits, predominantly focal motor seizures. Seventy-one patients had their first seizure within the 1st year after stroke, 30 within 2 weeks after the infarct. The interval between stroke and the first epileptic fit exceeded 1 year in the remaining 29 cases. If the first fit occurred in the acute phase after stroke, the risk of further ones was significantly lower than when the first fit occurred in the chronic stage. The frequency of fits mainly depended on the occurrence of epileptic potentials in the EEG and the interval between stroke and the first seizure. During follow-up 27 patients suffered a recurrent stroke, and 52 patients died. Cardiac failure was the predominant cause of death; only 4 patients died as a consequence of an epileptic fit.