Polygraphic study of the orienting reflex in patients with late post-traumatic epilepsy.

A polygraphic study performed on 102 patients with late post-traumatic epilepsy has shown marked interictal nervous reactivity disturbances. The disturbances, estimated by testing for the electrographic components of the orienting reflex elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus, and for their habituation, were expressed by alterations in the intensity, resistance to habituation and sequence of habituation of the somatic, autonomic and EEG components. The character and severity of these disturbances depended on the site of the traumatic impact, lesional aspect of cranio-cerebral trauma, electro-clinical form of seizures and features of interictal EEG tracings.