Post-Traumatic Epilepsy: Review

Post traumatic epilepsy is defined by recurrent seizures secondary to brain injury following head trauma andrepresent the most frequent cause of epilepsy in young adults. Most post traumatic epilepsies start within two yearsfrom trauma, but in some cases may present several years after the brain injury. Severe traumatic brain injuries tendto correlate with an increased risk of developing early and late post-traumatic seizures. A cranial trauma creates apotentially epileptogenic brain damage through a number of different mechanisms. Several structural, physiologicaland biochemical modifications occur in a brain after a head injury that promote oxidative stress mechanisms andexcitotoxic mechanisms. Current evidence shows that prophylactic use of antiepileptic drugs prevent the occurrenceof early post-traumatic seizure but does not influence the incidence of post-traumatic epilepsy. Some authorspropose treatment with antioxidant drugs in acute phase of severe traumatic brain injuries in order to prevent earlytissue changes established in the traumatized tissue