Assessing Electrocardiographic Parameters in the Patients With Drug-resistant Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Case-control Study

Abstract

Introduction: Sudden, unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a substantial cause of death in patients with epilepsy. Although electroconductive disorders leading to life-threatening arrhythmia are supposed to play a crucial role, there is a paucity of knowledge in variables among the patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) compared to the healthy controls. Methods: The current case-control study has been conducted on 50 drug-resistant TLE patients as the cases and 50 age-and gender-matched healthy subjects selected from their first-degree family members. Electrocardiographic (ECG) were taken from the cases when admitted at the hospital (baseline), immediately after a seizure incidence, and within an hour after the end of the seizure and compared with a random ECG of the controls considering parameters, including PR-, RR-, and corrected QT interval (QTc), P wave duration, and heart rate (HR) variability. Results: A shorter corrected QTc interval was notified among the drug-resistant TLE patients compared to the controls (P=0.017) in the baseline taken ECGs, while the assessments immediately after the seizure revealed significant differences in terms of RR-interval (P=0.005) and HR (P=0.005). Postictal ECGs did not differ between the groups (P>0.05). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, shortened QTc interval at baseline ECGs, shortened RR interval, and increased HR during the seizure were the ECG elements that affected drug-resistant TLE patients; however, to generalize the outcomes, further studies are required.