Brain CT scan findings in epileptic patients referred to Kermanshah neurological clinic

Background: Imaging studies performed in research centers suggest a high prevalence of brain structural abnormalities in patients with epilepsy. However, the results of research studies may not be directly applicable to general clinic, because they may perform on patients with high probability of cerebral abnormalities. On the other hand, more advanced modalities are likely to be used in research studies for the detection of such abnormalities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the brain CT scan findings in epileptic patients in neurological clinics.

Methods: A cross sectional study was designed and medical records of 931 patients with the diagnosis of epilepsy was assessed. Data such as: age, sex, type of epilepsy and brain CT scan findings collected from 1996 to 2007.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 24 years.  473 patients had generalized tonic colonic seizures and 325 patients had motor focal epilepsy. Among the 905 patients with brain CT scans, 125 scans reported as an abnormal (15.8%). Abnormalities were vascular (6.4%), space occupying lesions (2.5%), malformation of cortical development (2.5%) and nonspecific lesions (2.4%). The most prevalent abnormalities were among the focal motor epileptic patients.

Conclusion: Although the rate of structural abnormalities in patients with focal motor epilepsy was higher but it is lower than other reports. This might represent technical errors in performing CT scans or differences in etiologies of focal motor epilepsy in various populations. More attention is recommended for performing CT scan in the patients with epilepsy.