Research Reports - Traumatic brain injury: Risks of epilepsy and implications for medicolegal assessment
Epilepsia. 2012 Sep;53 Suppl 4:43-7
Christensen J.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a potentially preventable cause of epilepsy.
Increasing incidence among army personnel and the high incidence among children
and young people raise concern. This article presents a review of selected
studies dealing with the risks of TBI and the risk of posttraumatic epilepsy in
humans. The incidence of persons admitted to hospital with TBI has decreased in
developed countries in recent years. However, there is little change in
TBI-associated deaths, and the decrease in hospitalization may merely reflect
that more people with head injury are cared for on an outpatient basis. It is
clear that epilepsy is a frequent consequence of brain injury, even many years
after the injury. However, several well-controlled studies have been unable to
identify therapies that prevent the development of epilepsy after TBI.
Posttraumatic epilepsy has significant implications for the affected individuals,
family, and society. Despite several interventions used to prevent posttraumatic
epilepsy, the only proven "intervention" to date is to prevent TBI from
occurring.
