Description
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an alteration in brain function resulting from blunt or penetrating force to the head. In the developed world, trauma is the leading cause of death in the under-45 age group, with TBI as the main cause of disability and death in trauma patients. The resulting neurological deficits range from severe disability to an incidence of up to 50% of subtle cognitive impairment.
Posttraumatic seizures occur in 10–50% of severe TBI cases. “Immediate” seizures occur within 24 h of injury, and are often considered a subgroup of “early” seizures. “Early” seizures occur within 7 days, and can cause secondary cerebral injury. “Late” seizures occur after 7 days. The term “posttraumatic epilepsy” describes two or more late seizures. It is a common cause of acquired epilepsy, and impairs the quality of life of TBI survivors.
Although the use of prophylactic antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) reduces the incidence of early seizures in high-risk patients, there is no...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsAbbreviations
- AEDs:
-
Anti-epileptic drugs
- CBF:
-
Cerebral blood flow
- TBI:
-
Traumatic brain injury
References
Adelson PD, Bratton SL, Carney NA et al. (2003) Guidelines for the acute medical management of severe traumatic brain injury in infants, children and adolescents. Pediatr Crit Care Med 4:S417–S491
Bratton SL et al. (2007) XIII. Antiseizure prophylaxis. In guidelines for the management of severe traumatic brain injury. J Neurotrauma 24:S83–S86
Bruns J, Hauser WA (2003) The epidemiology of traumatic brain injury: a review. Epilepsia 44(Suppl 10):2–10
Dikmen SS, Temkin NR, Miller B, Machamer J, Winn HR (1991) Neurobehavioral effects of phenytoin prophylaxis of posttraumatic seizures. JAMA 265:1271–1277
Jensen FE (2009) Introduction posttraumatic epilepsy: treatable epileptogenesis. Epilepsia 50(Suppl 2):1–3
Lowenstein DH (2009) Epilepsy after head injury: an overview. Epilepsia 50(Suppl 2):4–9
Statler KD (2006) Pediatric posttraumatic seizures: epidemiology, putative mechanisms of epileptogenesis and promising investigational progress. Dev Neurosci 28:354–363
Teasdale G, Jennett B (1974) Assessment of coma and impaired consciousness. A practical scale. Lancet 2:81–84
Temkin NR (2009) Preventing and treating posttraumatic seizures: the human experience. Epilepsia 50(Suppl 2):10–13
Temkin NR, Dikmen SS, Wilensky AJ, Keihm J, Chabal S, Winn HR (1990) A randomized, double-blind study of phenytoin for the prevention of post-traumatic seizures. N Engl J Med 323:497–502
Vespa PM, Nuwer MR, Nenov V, Ronne-Engstrom E, Hovda DA, Bergsneider M, Kelly DF, Martin NA, Becker DP (1999) Increased incidence and impact of nonconvulsive and convulsive seizures after traumatic brain injury as detected by continuous electroencephalographic monitoring. J Neurosurg 91:750–760
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag London Limited
About this entry
Cite this entry
Arnold, F.J.L., McEvoy, A.W. (2010). Traumatic Brain Injury and Epileptic Seizures. In: Panayiotopoulos, C.P. (eds) Atlas of Epilepsies. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-128-6_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-128-6_18
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-84882-127-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-84882-128-6
eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine