MRI findings and clinical symptoms of patients with epilepsy referring to Valli-e-asr hospital between 2009 and 2010

Epilepsy is a prevalent disorder، and seizures are، among significant reasons for referring to emergency wards. This causes horror and anxiety of the patient and his/her family. The present study mainly aimed at evaluating MRI and EEG findings in referring patients with epilepsy and seizure. This descriptive-analytical study، evaluated sixty over- 18 patients with epilepsy from April 2009 through April 2010 presented with seizure in Birjand Vali-e-asr hospital. Pseudo seizure cases، pregnant women with seizure، items with non-initial seizure، and those whose seizure was associated with pyrexia were excluded from the study. After getting the history of the subjects and their examination، the results of diagnosing measures (i. e. EEG، CT، MRI) were recorded in a questionnaire. The obtained data was then analysed by means of SPSS (V: 13) at the significant level α=0. 05. Sixty patients whose mean age was 34. 4 years were assessed generalized tonic-clonic (grand mal) seizures were reported in 78. 4%. Initial EEG was abnormal in 51. 7%، but specific findings were reported to be abnormal in 19. 3%. Brain CT and MRI examinations were abnormal in 35% and 50%، respectively. As revealed by MRI scans، the most common trauma was hippocampal sclerosis (30% were abnormal)، and the most common epileptogenic trauma spot was the temporal lobe (46. 7%) MRI was abnormal in 29% of patients<30-or equal to 30 yrs and in 72. 4% of subjects over 30 yrs (P=0. 001). Besides، it was found that epilepsy was abnormal in Generalized tonic-clonic seizure (42. 6%) and in other kinds of seizure (76. 9%); P=0. 03. It was found that EEG and brain MRI almost reveal specific features of epileptic cases only in 10% of the subjects، while it is abnormal in 51. 3% of all patients with epileptic seizures. Thus، it is more sensitive than CT (35%) and even MRI (50%). MRI has a tangible advantage in showing the kind and position of trauma.