Temporal Lobe Epilepsy - Syndrome of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE)

Syndrome of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE)

The classical syndrome of TLE may begin when there is a very early injury to the left or right hippocampus that causes neuron death. Infants may develop heart,lung or skin infections resulting in a fever. Babies have an immature thermoregulation system, and the fever causes the baby's core body temperature to increase more drastically than in adults. In some children, elevated body temperature can cause febrile seizures. Febrile seizures are relatively normal as they occur in 2-5% of children under age 5 years. They typically last only a few minutes or even a matter of seconds, but are neither severe motor convulsions nor followed by weakness on one side of the body. In a small number of babies, these convulsions can last for over an hour and involve repeated convulsive episodes. These are known as complex febrile seizures and may be causatively associated with TLE. As discussed below in the section on causes, it remains controversial whether complex febrile seizures actually cause TLE, or whether they are simply the earliest manifestation of the TLE condition.