An 8-year-old boy is brought to the physician by his parents because of repeated episodes of epilepsy over the past 2 months. The mother reports that during these episodes, the boy abruptly stops what he is doing and just stares into space. She says that he sometimes also smacks his lips. The episodes typically last 1-2 minutes and occur 2-3 times per week. After the episode, he was confused for 10 minutes and too tired to play. Electroencephalography reveals epileptic foci originating from the left temporal lobe, and neuroimaging reveals an abnormality of the left hippocampus. Surgical resection of the cortical region from which the seizure originates is performed. Histopathological examination of the removed brain tissue is most likely to reveal which of the following findings?

Question

An 8-year-old boy is brought to the physician by his parents because of repeated episodes of epilepsy over the past 2 months. The mother reports that during these episodes, the boy abruptly stops what he is doing and just stares into space. She says that he sometimes also smacks his lips. The episodes typically last 1-2 minutes and occur 2-3 times per week. After the episode, he was confused for 10 minutes and too tired to play. Electroencephalography reveals epileptic foci originating from the left temporal lobe, and neuroimaging reveals an abnormality of the left hippocampus.  Surgical resection of the cortical region from which the seizure originates is performed.  Histopathological examination of the removed brain tissue is most likely to reveal which of the following findings?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: Temporal lobe epilepsy is most commonly due to hippocampal sclerosis.  Histopathology of hippocampal sclerosis demonstrates atrophy of the hippocampal neurons with marked reactive gliosis (astrocyte proliferation in response to injury).

An 8-Year-Old Boy Is Brought to the Physician by His