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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
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 focal or partial seizure. When this occurs in an area of the brain known as the temporal lobe, it's called a temporal lobe seizure.
Temporal lobe seizures can be a result of:
- Traumatic 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
- Injury due to a previous lack of oxygen
- Blood vessel malformations in the brain
- Stroke
- Brain tumors
- Genetic syndromes
- Temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy Foundation. http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/types/syndromes/temporallobe.cfm. Accessed May 7, 2009.
- Stafstrom CE, et al. Pathophysiology of seizures and epilepsy. http://www.uptodate.com/index/home.html. Accessed April 17, 2009.
- Foldvary-Schaefer N, et al. Epilepsy and epilepsy syndromes. In: Goetz, CG. Textbook of Clinical Neurology. 3rd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier: 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/136248193-3/0/1488/441.html?tocnode=53805069&fromURL=441.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3618-0..10052-9_4538. Accessed May 8, 2009.
- 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 April 24, 2009.
- Ropper AH, et al. Epilepsy and other seizure disorders. In: Ropper AH, et al. Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology. 9th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3632229. Accessed April 22, 2009.
- Seizure disorders. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec16/ch214/ch214a.html. April 26, 2009.
- Schuele SU, et al. Intractable epilepsy: Management and therapeutic alternatives. Lancet Neurology. 2008;7:514.
- Spooner CG, et al. New-onset temporal lobe epilepsy in children. Neurology. 2006;67:2147.
- 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 April 27, 2009.
- Britton JW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 14, 2009.
