Sex differences in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy
- aDepartment of Human Brain Research, Karolinska Institute, bDepartment of Neurology, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden, cDepartment of Neurology, dDepartment of Neurobiology, eBrain Research Institute, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Dr Ivanka Savic, Karolinska Institute, Department of Neurology, Huddinge University Hospital, 14186 Huddinge, Sweden. Telephone 0046 8 58 58 00 00; fax 0046 8 774 48 22; emailivanka.savic-berglund{at}neuro.ki.se
- Received 22 January 1998
- Revised 7 July 1998
- Accepted 23 July 1998
Abstract
Possible sex differences in the pattern of interictal hypometabolism were investigated, and also seizure spread in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (n=48) and hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE). Male patients (n=21) more often had a frontal lobe hypometabolism ipsilateral to the seizure onset (p<0.0001) and a spread of epileptiform activity to this region (p=0.001). By contrast, female patients more often exhibited hypometabolism (p=0.0052) and an ictal spread to the contralateral temporal lobe (p=0.0097). These findings suggest sex differences in spatial distribution of brain dysfunction in MTLE, perhaps reflecting sexual dimorphism in regional cerebral connectivity.
