1. Histopathological characterization of cerebral small vessel disease in epilepsy patients with temporal lobe epilepsy submitted to surgery: A case–control study.
- Author
-
Coelho, Pedro, Madureira, João, Franco, Ana, Peralta, Ana Rita, Bentes, Carla, Campos, Alexandre Rainha, Anink, Jasper, Aronica, Eleonora, Roque, Rafael, and Pimentel, José
- Subjects
CEREBRAL small vessel diseases ,EPILEPSY ,TEMPORAL lobe epilepsy ,EPILEPSY surgery ,TEMPORAL lobectomy ,HIPPOCAMPAL sclerosis ,CEREBROVASCULAR disease - Abstract
Background: Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is a major contributor to epilepsy; however, patients with epilepsy also have a significantly increased risk of stroke. The way in which epilepsy contributes to the increased risk of stroke is still uncertain and is ill‐characterized in neuropathological studies. A neuropathological characterization of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) in patients with chronic epilepsy was performed. Methods: Thirty‐three patients with refractory epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) submitted to epilepsy surgery from a reference center were selected between 2010 and 2020 and compared with 19 autopsy controls. Five randomly selected arterioles from each patient were analyzed using a previously validated scale for cSVD. The presence of CVD disease imaging markers in pre‐surgical brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was studied. Results: There were no differences in age (43.8 vs. 41.6 years; p = 0.547) or gender distribution (female gender 60.6% vs. male gender 52.6%; p = 0.575) between groups. Most CVD findings in brain MRI were mild. Patients had a mean time between the epilepsy onset and surgery of 26 ± 14.7 years and were medicated with a median number of three antiseizure medication (ASMs) [IQR 2–3]. Patients had higher median scores in arteriolosclerosis (3 vs. 1; p < 0.0001), microhemorrhages (4 vs. 1; p < 0.0001) and total score value (12 vs. 8.9; p = 0.031) in comparison with controls. No correlation was found between age, number of years until surgery, number of ASMs or cumulative defined daily dosage of ASM. Conclusion: The present study provides evidence supporting the increased burden of cSVD in the neuropathological samples of patients with chronic epilepsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF