EFN

The findings of a new study indicate a wartime brain injury may increase the risk of a soldier suffering from epilepsy. The researchers found that the epilepsy may not occur for decades following the brain injury.

Lead Researcher Jordan Grafman, from the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke said epilepsy develops shortly after the brain has been injured. This can result in the seizures being more severe with the passing of time. He said, “Not only do combat veterans with a penetrating traumatic brain injury have high rates of epilepsy, but the development of epilepsy can occur decades after their lesion.”

Grafman’s study involved the evaluation of 199 Vietnam War veterans. Each of these people had a penetrating brain injury that had occurred about 35 years earlier. Each veteran was given a brain scan as well as intelligence tests to uncover lesions. The study found that 87 of the veterans developed post-traumatic epilepsy. Nearly 15 per cent of this group developed epilepsy more than 14 years later.

Dr. L. James Wilmore, an associate dean and professor of neurology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine stated, “Post-traumatic epilepsy has been known since antiquity, and researchers have yet to learn how to prevent its development following severe trauma, whether in combat or among the civilian population.”