History of posttraumatic epilepsy

Posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE) is a recurrent seizure disorder caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this chapter, we review some historical aspects of PTE. We trace some of the early recognition that head trauma may lead to seizures. Both the conception of epilepsy and its interaction with methods of treatment of TBI evolved from antiquity through medieval and Renaissance practitioners. Key to a more modern and logical approach to diagnosis and treatment of PTE was the emerging understanding of cortical localization beginning in the 1870s. This paralleled the rise of neurology and neurosurgery as localization-based diagnosis and treatment were tested and proven. Despite these advances, however, by the 1920s, the understanding of the neuropathology and pathophysiology of PTE was still in its infancy.