Cerebral blood flow dynamics before, during, and after seizures from epilepsy and the periictal state

Changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the human cerebral cortex during surgery were reported by Penfield. However, data on continuous CBF during seizures were not available until Carter et al developed a subdural CBF probe for measuring continuous CBF. This probe used thermal resistor methodology and was developed to study patients with head trauma. With such a probe, changes in continuous CBF and electroencephalography during and after a seizure were reported by Oommen et al. Such changes were later confirmed examining the same phenomenon by using cerebral perfusion with laser Doppler methodology with epidural electroencephalography. This review details the evolution of our knowledge of CBF from observational reports to recordings from the animal and human cortices, by varying methodologies.