Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Often, the cause of temporal lobe seizures remains unknown. However, they can be a result of:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Infections, such as encephalitis or meningitis, or history of such infection
- A process that causes scarring (gliosis) in a part of the temporal lobe called the hippocampus
- Inflammatory disorders of the brain
- Injury due to a previous lack of oxygen
- Blood vessel malformations in the brain
- Stroke
- Brain tumors
- Genetic syndromes
During normal waking and sleeping, your brain cells produce varying electrical activity. If the electrical activity in many brain cells becomes abnormally synchronized, a convulsion or seizure may occur. If this happens in just one area of the brain, the result is a partial seizure. When this occurs in an area of the brain known as the temporal lobe, it's called a temporal lobe seizure.
References
- Temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy Foundation. http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/types/syndromes/temporallobe.cfm. Accessed March 29, 2011.
- FDA warns about potential Topamox related birth defects. FDA Reports. http://www.fda-reports.com/alerts/?p=187. Accessed March 23, 2011.
- FDA: Aseptic meningitis risk with use of seizure drug Lamactil. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm222212.htm. Accessed March 23, 2011.
- Practice parameter update: Management issues for women with epilepsy - Focus on pregnancy (an evidence based review): Teratogenesis and perinatal outcomes. St. Paul, Minn.: American Academy of Neurology. http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/WNL.0b013e3181a6b312v1. Accessed March 23, 2011.
- Shallcross R, et al. Child development following in utero exposure: Levetiracetam vs. sodium valproate. Neurology. 2011;76:383.
- Stafstrom CE, et al. Pathophysiology of seizures and epilepsy. http://www.uptodate.com/index/home.html. Accessed March 22, 2011.
- Seizures and epilepsy: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/epilepsy/detail_epilepsy.htm?css=print. Accessed March 22, 2011.
- Schachter SC. Evaluation of the first seizure in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/index/home.html. Accessed March 22, 2011.
- Seizure disorders. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec16/ch214/ch214a.html. March 23, 2011.
- Change EF, et al. Predictors of efficacy after stereotactic radiosurgery for medial temporal lobe epilepsy. Neurology. 2010;74:165.
Find Mayo Clinic on