TLE, Mesial Temporal Sclerosis and Memory

[Dignan]

Question for anyone who might know or know where to get more info on this subject.

I was reading about Mesial Temporal Sclerosis and how it is also called Hippocampal Sclerosis. The article was about Hippocampal Sclerosis in general and it referred to this in reference to older people with Alzheimers Disease.

My question is this: If Hippocampal Sclerosis is a cause of Alzheimers Disease, does that mean that if a person has a seizure disorder and has sclerosis as a cause or an effect of their epilepsy, are they also doomed to suffer from Alzheimers Disease, or more likely to do so?

D
:rock:

 

[CBernieBlack]

That's interesting an correlation. However while Alzheimers Disease (AD) and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy share some of the same distinctions, I feel that based on current understanding, it's not that black and white of a "if x then y" kind of thing. A lot of other things have to come into the equation before we can say, "TLE causes AD." I think you have a higher risk, but it's not an outright doomed path.

Here is a super technical article I found showing a link in pathology, but not equating the two in, "If you have this, then you have that." kind of way.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0048782

Very interesting thought though.

Chris.

 

[Nakamova]

I agree with Chris. The existing research doesn't currently suggest a cause-effect with TLE and AD. Hippocampal sclerosis is actually a relatively common feature of the aging brain, even without neurological disorders. So while sclerosis can be a feature of folks with AD and TLE, it seems likely that there are differences in how it plays out depending on the underlying cause.