Hippocampal sclerosis studied in identical twins

Abstract

Objective: To test both the genetic and acquired hypotheses for the etiology of hippocampal sclerosis (HS) by studying with optimized and quantitative MRI three monozygous (MZ) twin pairs in which the index twin had temporal lobe epilepsy and HS. Background: There is conflicting evidence in the literature regarding whether HS is genetic or acquired prenatally, perinatally, or as a consequence of prolonged childhood seizures. Methods: We compared three MZ pairs with 30 age-matched control subjects who had no history of a neurologic disorder; we also used the twins as matched samples to assess subtle differences between the affected and the unaffected twins. Results: All of the affected twins ..