Review Article

The “Natural” History of Medically Treated Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: What Can an Evidence-Based Approach Tell Us?

Table 1

Prospective population-based studies of sporadic and familial temporal lobe epilepsies.

StudyCountrySettingSample sizeFollow-up durationAge at onsetSilent periodHistory of IPIFamily historyEEGImagingRate of seizure freedomLongest remission

Hauser and Kurland 1975 [7]USAChildhood and adult onset????????41% 2-year seizure freedom?
Manford et al. 1992 [6]UKChildhood and adult onset433 to 7 yearsMean 40 years-old (standard deviation 20 years)?6 (14%)?38/43 (89%); abnormality 4/38 (11%)CT (30/43; 70%); abnormality (3/30; 10%)49% 2-year seizure freedom?
Sillanpää and Schmidt 2006 [8]FinlandChildhood onset43Median 40 years?8/43 (19%)????53% 5-year seizure freedom?
Spooner et al. 2006 [5]AustraliaChildhood onset62Median 13.7 yearsMedian 6.4 years old16/62 (26%)17 (27%)13 (21%)vEEG temporal lobe seizure (31/62 (50%)MRI 58/62 (94%); abnormality 28/58 (48%)31% 2-year seizure freedomMedian seizure-free duration 10 years (range 5–15 years)
Morita et al. 2008 [9]BrazilFamilial mesial temporal sclerosis64Mean 7.8 years???100%??50% 2-year seizure freedom?

CT = computed tomography; EEG = electroencephalography; IPI = initial precipitating injury; MRI = magnetic resonance imaging; vEEG = video electroencephalography.