Abstracts

RATIONALE: Although a history of a febrile convulsion (FC) is often obtained in epilepsy patients, the preferential association of FC with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) or with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) on MRI is not clear. METHODS: We prospectively obtained the information about FC in an epilepsy clinic. We classified epilepsy syndrome into generalized epilepsy (GE), TLE, extratemporal lobe epilepsy (ETLE), unclassified partial, and undetermined epilepsy by a standardized criteria. We devided MRI findings into normal, HS and other congenital abnormality groups. The incidence of an antecedent FC was evaluated in relation to epilepsy classification or MRI findings. We calculated ? values for inter- and intra-observer reliability for classification of epilepsy syndrome. RESULTS: The agreement of epilepsy classification was reliable (intraobserver ? value=0.78, interobserver ? value=0.77). Thirteen percents of patients (72/537) had a FC and 38% of FC (27/72) were a complex FC. TLE was more likely to be preceded by FC ?25%(42/166)? than ETLE ?6%(12/189), p<0.05? or GE ?13%(12/93), p<0.05?. Whereas GE was more likely to have non complex FC ?100%(12/12)? than partial epilepsy ?55%(32/58), p<0.05?? HS group was more likely to be associated with FC ?48%(27/56)? than normal ?14%(33/232), p<0.05? or other congenital abnormality group on MRI ?6%(3/45), p<0.05?. CONCLUSIONS: FC is preferentially associated with TLE or HS on MRI.