Injuries to the brain from trauma are a common cause of seizure disorders. When it comes to head injuries and epilepsy, the more severe the injury, the greater the likelihood of seizures.
Injuries to the front and sides of the brain are more likely to result in epilepsy. Between five and ten percent of people with traumatic brain injuries develop seizures as a result.
Trauma causes seizures because it changes the structure of the brain tissue. Scar tissue forms, often after bleeding within the brain. Direct penetration of the skull by a foreign object—or even a bone fragment from a skull fracture—also causes scarring.
Within the first few hours after a traumatic brain injury, seizures are a common response to the disruption in the normal tissue. They don’t necessarily mean that the patient will go on to develop a long-term seizure disorder.
However, when seizures begin to occur after a week or so following the trauma, they reflect the gradual process of scarring that often does lead to epilepsy. Some experts say that it can take up to six to twelve months for the brain’s structure to change enough to cause epilepsy.
The types of seizures that occur after a traumatic brain injury include grand mal (also called tonic-clonic), as well as complex partial (staring) seizures. About a third of people with epilepsy related to traumatic brain injury have grand mal seizures.
Children with traumatic brain injuries often fare better than do adults. Their brain is more flexible, speaking at a cellular level, and still-developing parts of a child’s brain can adapt to take over the functions that injured parts can’t accomplish.
Major sources of trauma that can cause epilepsy include car and bicycle accidents. In fact, you can think of safety restraints in cars, child carriers and safety seats, and bicycle helmets as important parts of an epilepsy prevention program.
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