Late-onset focal epilepsy: electroclinical features and prognostic role of leukoaraiosis

Introduction

This database includes the raw data linked with the paper “Late-Onset Focal Epilepsy: Electroclinical Features And Prognostic Role Of Leukoaraiosis ” published on “Frontiers in Neurology”.

In this paper, we reported  the clinical, EEG, neuroimaging and prognostic characteristics of new-onset elderly focal epilepsy outpatients aged ≥ 60 years referred to a tertiary epilepsy center between 2005 and 31 December 2020.

Methods

Among the 720 patients referred to the center, we retrospectively selected 162 consecutive outpatients with a first referral for recent-onset focal epilepsy of unknown cause (UC) or structural cause (SC), and collected clinical, standard-EEG (S-EEG), 24-hour ambulatory EEG (A-EEG), and neuroimaging data, in particular for the evaluation of leukoaraiosis. We also analyzed seizure prognosis after titration of the first antiseizure medication (ASM).

Results

Late-onset focal epilepsy of unknown cause, with respect to symptomatic epilepsy, shows characteristics that together suggest a temporal lobe origin of the seizures, and has a significantly better prognosis than symptomatic forms. The presence of leukoaraiosis on neuroimaging significantly worsens the seizure prognosis as an independent factor.