[Effect of motor cortex excitability on the course of symptomatic focal epilepsy]

We studied 31 patients with symptomatic focal epilepsy (SFE). Mean age of patients was 31.3 years. Twelve patients were first diagnosed with epilepsy, three of them started treatment; 22 patients received antiepileptic therapy. Thresholds of motor cortex excitability (MCE) in patients with SFE were significantly lower than in healthy people. Thresholds of MCE were lower in patients without treatment compared to controls (p < 0.004). Significant differences between thresholds of MCE in patients with- and without treatment were found. The threshold of MCE was higher in treated patients (p < 0.01). The frequency of seizures was twice higher (10.8 +/- 6.0 seizures per year) in the group with lower MCE thresholds (<40%) compared to that in the group with normal thresholds (5.16 +/- 4.6 seizures per year, p < 0.03). The thresholds were decreased in patients with SFE with the following signs of epileptic activity: the secondary generalization during a seizure, the elevation of seizure frequency in a year prior to the study, EEG epiphenomena, the response to hyperventilation during the EEG recording.