SEIZURES AND EPILEPSY IN CHILDHOOD: UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHILD’S TESTS – CT AND MRI SCANNING
Saturday, February 26th, 2011
SEIZURES AND EPILEPSY IN CHILDHOOD: UNDERSTANDING YOUR CHILD’S TESTS – CT AND MRI SCANNINGWhen a child has had a seizure or multiple seizures, the first question parents and physicians ask is, “Why did the seizure occur?” Although more than 50 percent of seizures in children are “idiopathic” (having no known cause) and although most that are “symptomatic” (due to disturbance in the brain) are secondary to something that happened long ago, there is an almost irresistible urge among physicians and families to “take a look,” to see if “we can find out why this occurred.” Neurologists and neurosurgeons who see adults who have just begun to have seizures often, properly consider brain tumors or vascular (blood vessel) problems as a possible cause of these seizures. The causes of seizures in children are different. Tumors and vascular problems are a rare cause of new onset seizures in children.Modern radiology, through the use of brain scanning, has, fortunately, made it possible to “take a look” relatively easily and at modest expense and without harm to the patient.It is not necessary to do a scan on every child who has had a first seizure.There are good reasons for a physician to request a scan if:• There are focal seizures, or• There is focal slowing on the EEG, or• You or your physician are concerned that your child is getting worse.But remember that:• Most scans are normal in children with epilepsy;• Most abnormalities found will not explain the epilepsy;• Most abnormalities found will not lead to a different approach to treatment.Something abnormal on a scan has not necessarily caused the seizures and may not cause seizures in the future. Only if the abnormality on the scan appears in the proper location of the brain to have caused the seizures can we presume cause and effect.*89\208\8*
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