Risk Factors for Post-traumatic Epilepsy in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injuries

Abstract

Background: Post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) is one of the types of epilepsy, which is a complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that occurs after TBI or 7 days later. Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the risk factors for PTE in patients with TBI. Methods: The computed tomography (CT)-scan results of all TBI patients were investigated in this retrospective study. At first, initial evaluation, including the examination of airways, vital signs, and breathing, was performed, and the level of consciousness was checked according to the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) for all traumatic patients. Then, the results of all CT scans were evaluated by a neurologist. If the patient had PTE, she/he was included in the study. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics in SPSS software (version 16). Results: The results showed that mild, moderate, and severe GCS scores were reported in 8 (14.3%), 30 (52.5%), and 18 (32.2%) participants, respectively. Vehicle accidents were the main cause of TBI (n = 34, 60%), and the lowest TBI rate was due to other cases (n = 4, 7.2%). The most and least frequent CT-scan finding was epidural hemorrhage (EH) (n = 24, 42.3%) and midline shift and intracerebral hemorrhage (n = 6, 10.8%), respectively. A total of 24 patients (42.3%) had tonic epilepsy, and 10 patients (17.9%) had epilepsy duration of more than 10 minutes. Conclusions: The most frequent risk factors included vehicles, falling from a height, and strikes, respectively. Additionally, the most common CT scan findings included EH and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SH). Motor vehicle accidents account for the highest rate of TBI-related PTE. For this reason, it is necessary to take preventive measures in this regard.