Brain SPECT, CT and EEG in 45 cases of epilepsy during the intermission

The regional cerebral blood flows (rCBF) in 45 cases of epilepsy during the interictal period were determined with brain SPECT. The results were compared those obtained with CT scans and EEG. 48.89% of the SPECT were found to be abnormal while 8.98% were suspected to be abnormal; the 35.71% of the CT scans were found to be abnormal; 16 cases (39.02%) were found to show focal abnormalities in the EEG while 9 cases (21.95%) had epileptic form discharge. SPECT seemed to show more significance in discovering the abnormalities in the epileptics during the interictal period than CT or EEG. However, the combined use of these three methods of examinations would be of greater help for identifying the focal abnormalities in epilepsy. Two of the 22 cases with abnormal SPECT had increased rCBF, whereas the other 20 cases had decreased rCBF. Among the 22 cases of abnormal SPECT and 4 cases of suspected abnormalities, the locations of the lesions as indicated with SPECT in 3 cases were not consistent with those as with CT. There were 5 cases in which the SPECT findings were not consistent with those in EEG.