Early seizures after intracerebral hemorrhage predict drug-resistant epilepsy

Seizures are a common complication after an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and the epilepsy might even be drug resistant. It is not known which factors determine the treatment response in post-ICH epilepsy. We included ICH patients retrospectively who survived at least the first 7 days, in the period from 2004 to 2009 and assessed seizure occurrence up to May 2013. We defined early seizures (ES) as seizures occurring within the first 7 days after the ICH, and late seizures (LS) as seizures occurring later than 7 days after the ICH. We defined drug-resistant epilepsy as a non-response to two adequately chosen and dosed drug regimens. In 857 patients surviving at least 7 days after ICH 69 (8.1 %), patients developed ES whereas LS occurred in 84 (9.8 %) subjects. Patients with ES had higher odds to develop LS, as compared to patients without ES [OR 3.4; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 2.1–5.6]. Drug-resistant post-ICH epilepsy occurred in 19 patients (22.6 %). The most important independent risk factor was the occurrence of ES (OR 3.0; 95 %-CI 1.1–8.4). ES are the main independent risk factor for the development of LS and for the development of drug-resistant epilepsy. Thus, ES might hallmark the start of chronic epilepsy after intracerebral hemorrhage and are not to be considered of no significance.