What is causing my brother's arachnoid cyst and epilepsy?

Question

Hello doctor,

My 30 year old brother has an arachnoid cyst displacing his hypoglossal nerve. He has no tongue problems, but he has epilepsy since the last 10 years. If I send over his magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) report, can you tell me what causes his epilepsy? Thank you in advance for your time. Due to his new medicine Epilive, he has hallucinations and nightmares. He generally takes only sodium valproate.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com. I read your query and reviewed the attached magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) report. As per the available MRI report, it appears that your brother suffered some ischemic (blood circulation related) damage during his early part of life, especially around his birth. It is possible that the same damage is responsible for his seizure over the last 10 years. You may argue that why it occurred after 20 years, but it is possible that some other damage caused an exacerbation of the seizure in his young age rather than during infancy. Regarding the medications, I would like to clarify that both the medicines are effective for seizure disorder although Epilive (Levetiracetam) has slightly less chance of side effects compared to sodium valproate. I hope this answers you. Feel free to write back to me if you have more questions. Thanks and regards.