Seizures After Traumatic Brain Injury
In our role as Portland brain injury lawyers, some of our cases involve post-TBI epilepsy, some of which cause visible tonic-clonic ("grand mal") seizures, and some of which are temporal lobe epilepsy that do not demonstrate any visible seizure activity. The following is one of nearly 1,000 medical journal articles on all aspects of traumatic brain injury that we use in our work as leading Oregon brain injury lawyers.
In a traumatic brain injury claim or TBI lawsuit, the onset of seizures is an important part of the claim, particularly if the seizures continue for life. A defendant or their insurance company will likely deny that seizures are related to the injury. While the insurance company doctors will tell the insurer (and then testify in trial) that there is not an increased incidence of seizures after a traumatic brain injury, many large population studies have conclusively proven that TBIs cause an increse in seizures and epilepsy. Large scale population studies on millions of test subjects in our document database demonstrate a clear increase in seizure rates after even one mild traumatic brain injury. Certain factors demonstrate the likelihood of ongoing seizures and permanency of the seizures.
When confronted with that evidence during a deposition or cross examination, the defense doctor will claim to have never seen the study. If you don't have a lawyer who understands the scientific correlation between traumatic brain injury and seizures you would look like you are making up the symptoms and probably lose your case. This is one of many complex issues that can destroy a brain injury claim if you don't have a highly experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer.
The insurance doctors will also claim that a person who sustains a real TBI will be "worst at first" something that is discredited in many TBI studies, including this one, which shows late onset of seizure activity after a traumatic brain injury.
Medical Study on Seizures after Traumatic Brain Injury
The following is a summary of one smaller study demonstrating an increased incidence of seizures in children after a traumatic brain injury. This article published in the Journal of Neurosurgery is: Keret A, et al. Posttraumatic epilepsy: long-term follow-up of children with mild traumatic brain injury. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2017 Jul;20(1):64-70. doi: 10.3171/2017.2.PEDS16585. PMID: 28474982.
In this study, the authors wanted to know how often children develop epilepsy years after a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), and what factors increase this risk. They reviewed records of children aged 0–17 admitted with mild TBI at a single center from 2007–2009, then did a structured telephone follow up with families around 2015–2016 (mean follow up 7.4 years).
Seizure Patients and their history of TBI
Of 290 eligible children, 191 were successfully contacted and included in the analysis. Most injuries were due to falls (about 81%), all children had a CT scan, roughly 73% had skull fractures, and about 11% had no acute CT findings. Six children had seizures within 24 hours of injury (“immediate” posttraumatic seizures).
Definitions used;
- Posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE): at least two unprovoked seizures after the injury.
- Posttraumatic seizure (PTS): a single, non recurrent seizure occurring more than 24 hours after the injury.
- Immediate PTS: seizure occurring within 24 hours of the trauma.
These definitions let the authors distinguish isolated seizures from established epilepsy.
Results of this TBI Seizure Study
Over an average of 7.4 years of follow up, 7 children (3.7%) had a late Posttraumatic seizure; 6 of these 7 (85.7%) went on to develop epilepsy. The overall incidence of epilepsy in the group was 3.1%, and about half of those (1.6% of the total) developed intractable (drug resistant) epilepsy.
Children who later developed epilepsy stayed in the hospital about 2 extra days at the time of the original injury, suggesting more complicated initial courses. On average, the first epileptic seizure occurred 3.1 years after the trauma, showing that Posttraumatic epilepsy can appear quite delayed.
Conclusions of this TBI Seizure Study of Children
Mild TBI in children was associated with a significantly increased risk of posttraumatic epilepsy and intractable epilepsy—estimated at about 4.5 times and 8 times higher, respectively, than in the general pediatric population. The authors conclude that even mild pediatric TBI carries a meaningful long term risk of epilepsy, so long term vigilance and counseling of families are warranted.
Despite the medical definition classifying 80% of traumatic brain injuries as "mild," mild traumatic brain injuries can have severe symptomatic consequences including seizures and epilepsy. The fact that it's considered "mild" under the standard medical definition does not mean that your symptoms will be mild, and we've represented many people with mild traumatic brain injuries that have ended their careers.
If you are seeking a lawyer to handle your brain injury case, please contact us on this web site, or call our office at (503) 227-1233 for a free consultation.