Posttraumatic epilepsy
Posttraumatic seizures (PTS) are a common complication of TBI, and antiepileptic drugs are used to reduce the risk of both early seizures (occurring within the first week) and late seizures (occurring after one week and potentially leading to post-traumatic epilepsy).
Definition
Key concepts
● 2 categories: early (≤ 7 days) and late (>7 days) after head trauma
● anticonvulsants (AEDs) may be used to prevent early posttraumatic seizures (PTS) in patients at high risk for seizures
● prophylactic AEDs do NOT reduce the frequency of late PTS
● discontinue AEDs after 1 week except for cases meeting specific criteria
Epidemiology
Classification
Posttraumatic seizures (PTS) are often divided (arbitrarily) into early (occurring within 1 week of injury) and late (thereafter) 1). There may be justification for a third category: “immediate”, i.e. within minutes to an hour or so.
Risk factors
Management
Books
Book Review: Posttraumatic Epilepsy: Basic and Clinical Aspects 2).