ABSTRACT

Some hemogram parameters, which may be indicative of inflammation and hypoxemia, have been shown to be related to epilepsy and stroke disease in previous studies. The present study aims to investigate whether hemogram parameters are indicative of inflammation in late-term epilepsy after ischemic stroke.

Twenty-seven patients with late-onset seizures after an ischemic stroke who were followed-up in our stroke outpatient clinic were retrospectively analyzed in this study. All demographic characteristics of the patients and hemogram parameters before and after seizures were recorded.

The mean age of the patients was 63.4±13 years. Thirteen (48.1%) of the patients were female and fourteen (51.9%) of the patients were male. Hypertension (n=20) was the most common comorbidity in the study group. Subsequently, diabetes mellitus (n=13), coronary artery disease (n=8), atrial fibrillation (n=7), chronic renal failure (n=4), hyperlipidemia (n=4) and previous stroke (n=3) were seen. When the hemogram parameters were compared before and after seizure, no difference was observed between hemoglobin (p=0.329), platelet (p=0.313), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (p=0.70) and platelet lymphocyte ratios (p=0.195). However, red blood cell distribution width (RDW) (p=0.042), mean platelet volume (MPV) (p=0.001) was statistically significant. RDW was statistically higher after the seizure (before seizure: 14.3, after seizure: 15.1, p=0.04), MPV was statistically higher before the seizure (before seizure: 9.8 after seizure: 8.8, p=0.001).

Several previous studies have shown different results for MPV and RDW in epilepsy and ischemic stroke patients. In our study, MPV values before seizures were thought to be due to inflammation in acute stroke, and high levels of RDW after a seizure may be due to post-seizure hypoxia. Prospective wider studies are needed to support this hypothesis.

Keywords: Epilepsy, mean platelet volume, red blood cell distribution width, stroke