CONTRIBUTO DIAGNOSTICO DELLA RISONANZA MAGNETICA NELLE EPILESSIE PARZIALI DEL BAMBINO E DELL'ADOLESCENTE

The diagnostic value of magnetic resonance imaging in childhood and adolescent partial epilepsy is estimated by analyzing the data of 48 consecutive patients in whom seizures were the clinical presentation. Structural abnormalities of the brain were demonstrated in 29 patients (60.4%). Abnormalities were located in the temporal lobe in 21 patients (72.4%), were multilobar in 5 (17.2%), frontal in 2 (6.8%) and cerebellar in 1 (3.4%). Overall, in 15/21 (71.4%) patients with seizures of temporal lobe type a structural abnormality was demonstrated, always involving the temporal lobe. Only 2/12 (16.6%) patients with frontal lobe seizures had a lesion demonstrated, and in both of them with extrafrontal location. Agreement between seizure type and lesion site was high in temporal lobe seizures and low in the other seizure types. Mesial temporal changes, consistent with hippocampal sclerosis (in 9 patients), unilateral hippocampal atrophy without signal abnormalities (in 4 patients) and middle cranial fossa arachnoid cysts (in 6 patients) represented the three major abnormalities.