The Significance of Interictal Spike Frequency in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Purpose. In this study, the frequency of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) in patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) was measured to determine its correlation with epilepsy duration, seizure frequency, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, and recent occurrence of focal to bilateral tonic clonic seizures (FBTCS). Methods. Our study was performed on TLE patients, who admitted to epilepsy monitoring unit of Loghman-Hakim hospital, Tehran, from 2016 to 2018. The patients' IEDs frequency were measured from their scalp EEG recording during no-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. The IEDs frequency was classified into 3 groups of rare, occasional, and frequent. Results. A total of 142 patients, with the mean age of 33.95 +/- 12.73 years, were included in the study. The patients' mean epilepsy duration was 17.27 +/- 12.19 years and the mean seizure frequency was 10.56 +/- 12.95 attacks per month. The mean IEDs frequency was 123.48 +/- 513.01 per hour. Thirty-five (24.6%) patients had history of FBTCS in the past year. Our findings revealed no significant association between IEDs frequency with epilepsy duration (P = .22), the recent occurrence of FBTCS (P = .42), and the type of MRI abnormalities (P = .66). There was only a weak positive correlation between seizure frequency and interictal spike density (r = 0.2, P = .007). Conclusions. In patients with TLE, standard EEG recording may not be a reliable method to predict the probability of occurring future seizures.