Epilepsy and the temporal lobes. A clinical, electroencephalographic and neuropathological study of the brain in epilepsy, with particular reference to the temporal lobes

THERE have been very few studies of epileptic patients in which clinical and electroencephalographic assessments made during life have been com-bined with the pathological examination of the brain after death. No study has been carried out on large enough numbers and in such a way that the relationships between the findings in the three disciplines could be systematically analysed. The present report describes the nature and the distribution of structural abnormality in the brains of 55 epileptic patients, all of whom had under-gone clinical and electroencephalographic studies. Particular attention was paid to the temporal lobes. The clinical and the electroencephalographic work was carried out by J. H. M. and the neuropathological work by J. A. N. C. All the data were code-numbered in order that the three assessments could be made inde-pendently of each other. Cross-contamination was therefore reduced to a minimum