Gibson Lorna M, Allan Stuart M, Parkes Laura M, Emsley Hedley C A
Department of Acute Medicine, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK.
Cardiovasc Psychiatry Neurol. 2011;2011:130406. doi: 10.1155/2011/130406. Epub 2011 Mar 6.
Late-onset epilepsy (LOE) first occurs after 60 years of age and may be due to occult cerebrovascular disease (CVD) which confers an increased risk of stroke. However, patients with late-onset epilepsy are not currently consistently investigated or treated for cerebrovascular risk factors. We discuss how abnormalities of neurovascular unit function, namely, changes in regional cerebral blood flow and blood brain barrier disruption, may be caused by occult cerebrovascular disease but present clinically as late-onset epilepsy. We describe novel magnetic resonance imaging methods to detect abnormal neurovascular unit function in subjects with LOE and controls. We hypothesise that occult CVD may cause LOE as a result of neurovascular unit dysfunction.
迟发性癫痫（LOE）首次发作于60岁之后，可能是由隐匿性脑血管疾病（CVD）引起的，这种疾病会增加中风风险。然而，目前对于迟发性癫痫患者，并未针对脑血管危险因素进行持续一致的调查或治疗。我们讨论了神经血管单元功能异常，即局部脑血流变化和血脑屏障破坏，如何可能由隐匿性脑血管疾病引起，但在临床上表现为迟发性癫痫。我们描述了用于检测迟发性癫痫患者和对照者神经血管单元功能异常的新型磁共振成像方法。我们假设隐匿性CVD可能由于神经血管单元功能障碍而导致迟发性癫痫。
