CT brain scan and EEG in the diagnosis of adult onset seizures.

Incidence of CT abnormalities and their correlation with clinical and EEG features were evaluated in a consecutive series of 202 adult patients with newly diagnosed epileptic seizures. Abnormal CT findings were found in 36% of these patients; the abnormalities consisted of brain tumors (17%), atrophic lesions (11%) and other organic findings (8%) such as arteriovenous malformations. Focal features of seizures, in neurological examination and/or in EEG, correlated significantly with CT abnormalities. The absence of these findings did, however, not exclude the possibility of brain lesions, which in many cases were treatable by surgery.