EPILEPSY AFTER CENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM INFECTION - CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND OUTCOME AFTER EPILEPSY SURGERY

Fifty-six (5.8%) patients with partial epilepsy secondary to central n ervous system (CNS) infection (meningitis = 20 and encephalitis = 36) were identified from 963 patients studied with prolonged video-EEG mon itoring. Twenty-seven (48.2%) patients had unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (UMTLE), 9 (16.1%) had bilateral mesial temporal lobe ep ilepsy (BMTLE), and 20 (35.7%) had neocortical epilepsy (NE). Younger age at infection and prolonged latency between the time of infection a nd development of epilepsy were predictive factors for UMTLE. Predicto rs for BMTLE were late age of infection and shea latency between infec tion and epilepsy development. Development of NE was associated with s hort latency between infection and epilepsy, and younger age at infect ion. When outcome after temporal lobectomy was compared between the UM TLE group and a control group with UMTLE without history of CNS infect ion, no statistically significant differences were found. Central nerv ous system infection may lead to epilepsy, which in many cases, is gen erated by a single portion of the brain. In such cases, epilepsy surge ry should be considered, as in patients without history of CNS infecti on.