Pathologic findings in brains of patients with focal epileptic seizures who had a craniotomy procedure.

This report reviews the pathologic findings in brains of 12 patients with focal epileptic seizures who had a craniotomy procedure. A majority of patients (seven) had either a cerebral neoplasm or a developmental abnormality (tuberous sclerosis and hamartoma), and these were found in six of the nine patients with chronic and intractable seizures. Four patients had cortical gliosis or scarring, and one had a bacterial brain abscess. Ten patients had a visible focal structural lesion during cranial imaging procedures, and in two instances, the MRI study was more sensitive than the CT in detecting a cerebral lesion.