Seizures in family members of patients with hippocampal sclerosis

Abstract

Objective: To characterize seizures in family members of patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and hippocampal sclerosis (HS). Methods: The authors systematically investigated family history (FH) of seizures in 66 probands with histologically proven HS, and in 51 control subjects. A positive FH was defined as at least one first-to-third- degree relative being affected. The odds ratio (OR) to be affected with seizures was calculated for siblings, parents, and aunts/uncles. Results: An FH of seizures was found in 58% of patients, and in 24% of control subjects (p = 0.02). A variety of seizure types were found. Siblings of patients were more likely to be affected than siblings o..