Late posttraumatic epilepsy in patients with an alcoholic problem treated surgically for posttraumatic chronic subdural hematomas.

The frequency and time of late posttraumatic epilepsy in 34 patients (6 women and 28 men) was evaluated on the basis of a three-year observation and performed examinations (CT of the head and EEG). These patients were treated surgically in the years 1989-1994 in the Department of Neurosurgery of the Medical Academy of Białystok due to chronic posttraumatic subdural hematoma. On the basis of environmental and family interviews it was concluded that 41.1% of the patients operated systematically abuses alcohol. Within 14-30 minutes following the surgery, seizures of late posttraumatic epilepsy took place in 20.6% of patients. They took place over eight times more frequently in the case of patients with alcohol problems that in the ones without such problems.