The Effect of Seizure-Related Variables on Interictal Psychiatric Symptoms in the Intractable Epileptic Patients

난치성 간질환자에서 간질관련요인이 발작간 정신증상에 미치는 영향

The aim of this study is to find the relationship between interictal psychiatric symptoms and seizure-related variables such as structural changes, regional interictal perfusion changes, the number of interictal epileptic discharges and the presence of accompanying generalized tonic clonic seizure(GTC). The subjects were 75 patients (47 males : mean age $28.3{\pm}7.7$) with intractable epilepsy, Interictal psychiatric symptoms were rated by Symptom Checklist-90-R(SCL-90-R). Each of 4 seizure variables was measured by MRI, $^{99m}TC-HMPAO$ SPECT and the prolonged EEG monitoring. The mean SCL-90-R subscale T-scores and the ratio of the patients with definite psychiatric symptoms(T-score > 65 at any one subscale of SCL-90-R) were compared among the groups with different seizure variables. Demographic variables and clinical variables were not statistically different among the groups with different seizure variables. The patients with right mesial temporal sclerosis had higher mean SCL-90-R scores for obsessive compulsive symptom, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, hostility and psychotic symptoms than the patients with left mesial temporal sclerosis, and they also showed higher ratio of definite psychiatric symptoms. The presence of interictal epileptic discharges was related with higher T-scores of paranoid subscale. The areas of hypoperfusion, the presence of the GTC, and other clinical seizure variables showed no significant influences on the mean SCL-90-R subscale T-scores. from these results, the authors speculated that interictal subictal epileptic dischrages may be related with psychiatric symptoms of the intractable epileptic patients, especially with right mesial temporal sclerosis.