5.5. MRI findings (Study IV)

Four patients had left-sided hippocampal sclerosis and three patients had right-sided hippocampal sclerosis in MRI, whereas one patient had hippocampal sclerosis and parahippocampal cortical dysplasia on the left in MRI. All other patients were defined as to have cryptogenic TLE, i.e. the etiology of epilepsy could not be ascertained.

The mean values of the hippocampus and amygdala are shown in Table 16. The hippocampal (r = -.382; p = 0.016) and amygdaloid (r = -.228; p = 0.162) volumes were smaller with the longer duration of epilepsy.

Table 16. The mean (± SD) volumes of the hippocampus and amygdalas in TLE patients with and without hippocampal sclerosis.

 Patients with hippocampal sclerosis (n = 8)Patients without hippocampal sclerosis (n = 31)All Patients (N = 39)
Hippocampus
Right2973 ± 2562955± 2562958 ± 246
Left2900 ± 3482917 ± 3532913 ± 348
Min2778 ± 2352836 ± 2962824 ± 282
Amygdala
Right2195 ± 2502259 ± 3582246 ± 337
Left2183 ± 5042218 ± 3922211 ± 410
Min2051 ± 4212135 ± 3672118 ± 374
Min, smaller hippocampus or amygdala. Values are mean (± SD).