Chronic encephalitis and temporal lobe epilepsy: A variant of Rasmussen's syndrome?

The authors report two adult patients with chronic temporal lobe epilepsy a nd pathologic features consistent with Rasmussen's encephalitis. Although s eizures persisted after temporal lobe surgery no progressive cognitive or n eurologic deficit has emerged. Prominent auditory auras in each suggested a persisting epileptogenic focus in the superior temporal gyrus. The current findings expand the clinical spectrum of Rasmussen's encephalitis and sugg est that chronic nonprogressive encephalitis may serve as the pathologic su bstrate of medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy.