The development of independent foci in epileptic patients
T. Niediek, H. G. Franke, R. Degen and G. Ettlinger
Department of Psychology, University of Bielefeld, West Germany.
The electroencephalograms of 309 unselected epileptic patients were
reexamined to ascertain the incidence of independent secondary discharges.
In 41 patients (13%), a simple one-sided focus, without evidence of
independent secondary discharges, was found (group 1); in 33 patients
(11%), an epileptic focus with certain evidence of independent secondary
discharges was found (group 2). These two groups were compared with respect
to multiple variables (eg, seizure type, time course of the epileptic
illness, site of foci, medication, neurological status), and significant
differences between the two groups were obtained (eg, with respect to
frequency of seizures, duration of seizures, number of anticonvulsive drugs
being taken, and in other respects). Our findings are compared with earlier
work, and it is concluded that they do not support the conventional models
of secondary epileptogenesis.
