RESUMO
PURPOSE: The common etiologies of most symptomatic epileptic children are congenital brain malformation, hypoxic injury, CNS infection and traumatic brain injury, etc. These brain lesions are often followed by a latent period of variable durations before the appearance of epilepsy. This research was designed to study the latent period of each etiology. METHODS: Subjects were 125 children with epilepsy who visited the Department of Pediatrics, Pusan National University Hospital between March 1993 and July 2002. We divided these patients into five groups according to etiologic brain lesions - congenital brain malformation(group 1), hypoxic brain injury(group 2), CNS infection(group 3), traumatic brain injury(group 4) and metabolic disorders or intoxication(group 5) - and compared the latent period of each patient group. RESULTS: The latent period of each patient group was as follows; 1.5 years(group 1), 1.7 years(group 2), 0.4 years(group 3), 2.9 years(group 4) and 0.4 years(group 5). There were significantly statistical differences in the latent periods among group 3, 4 and 5, between group 1 and 3, group 1 and 5, group 2 and 3, and group 2 and 5. CONCLUSION: The onset of epilepsy tends to appear relatively later after traumatic brain injury, while CNS infection and metabolic disorders cause the onset of epilepsy usually within 6 months.