Clinical predictors of late-onset seizures and epilepsy in patients with cerebrovascular disease

Background: Seizures and epilepsy are harmful and worsen the disability of stroke patients. There are currently no good clinical predictors of late-onset seizures and epilepsy in patients with cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Patients and Methods: 110 patients with delayed seizures after an ischaemic or a haemorrhagic stroke, a transient ischaemic attack or a subarachnoid haemorrhage ( 60 with a single seizure and 50 with epilepsy) and 366 without seizures were included in this retrospective study. The clinical syndrome, the stroke aetiology and the vascular risk factors were compared. The groups with a single seizure and with epilepsy were also analysed separately. Results: There were no differences in age, gender, aetiology and vascular risk factors between the groups with and without seizures. When comparing the incidence of the clinical syndromes, ischaemic partial anterior circulation syndrome (PACS) was significantly more and transient ischaemic attack less frequent in the group with seizures compared to the control group. The severity of the neurological impairment on admission and the degree of disability on discharge after a PACS was similar in those who developed late-onset seizures compared with those who did not. Also on the Cox proportional hazards analysis, PACS appeared to be the only clinical risk factor for development of seizures and epilepsy in patients with CVD. No differences were observed in clinical predictors between patients with a single seizure and those with epilepsy. Conclusion: PACS is the only independent predictor for the occurrence of late-onset seizures in patients with CVD. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.