Early Post Traumatic Seizures in Military Personnel Result in Long Term Disability.

摘要

This study is predicated on substantial evidence that early post- traumatic seizures occur frequently and create a metabolic crisis that will lead to cell death of hippocampal tissue among persons who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Our central hypothesis is that early post- traumatic seizures are acutely injurious due to increases in intracranial pressure and acute edema of the hippocampus leading to delayed long term hippocampal atrophy. This represents a unique translational hypothesis that we are uniquely qualified to study. In this study we plan to perform continuous EEG monitoring of military and civilian TBI patients for the initial 7 days after TBI to assess for non-convulsive seizures. This is followed by evaluating these same subjects at 6 months after injury by volumetric MRI of the hippocampus and cognitive testing to assess for disturbances of memory-related cognition and post-traumatic stress. We have begun to study civilian TBI patients in year 1 and have worked on establishing methodology and connectivity and IRB permission at military sites in year 1.