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The Incidence of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy among a Hospital Population of Long-Stay Female Epileptics^*

Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, London

D. W. Liddell, M.B., M.R.C.P., D.P.M.

Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Hospital, London

^* This work was carried out at Runwell Hospital, Wickford, Essex, with monies provided by the Dowager Lady Peel Trust and under the auspices of the Mental Health Research Fund from whom one of us (J.H.M.) held a research fellowship.

ABSTRACT

The results of a survey into the incidence of temporal lobe epilepsy among a hospital population of long-stay female epileptics are presented. The incidence figures are shown to be different according to the categories of clinical and/or EEG evidence admitted. It is suggested that there is a lack of specificity of diagnostic criteria and reasons are given for proposing that the term temporal lobe epilepsy should at present be confined to describe those cases in which there is reason to suspect an association between clinical, EEG and neuropathological findings. It is further argued that if EEG classification is made stricter by admission of an additional category ofdata the possibility of correlation between EEG and neuropathological evidence may be increased as suggested by Kennedy and Hill (1958). Figures for the incidence of lesions of the temporal lobe, based on provisional autopsy findings, are offered in support of this view.