A CASE OF UNTREATED MESIAL TEMPORAL SCLEROSIS IN RIGHT HEMISPHERE PRESENTING AS SCHIZOPHRENIA

Psychiatric disorders are very common in epilepsy. Studies have estimated that up to 50 of patients with epilepsy develop psychiatric disorders. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is related to a high frequency of psychiatric disorders, most common being anxiety and depression. Here, we report a case of a young female who was suffering from complex partial seizure with secondary generalization and who subsequently developed schizophrenic symptoms. She presented with psychiatric symptoms to OPD. Her MRI brain showed mesial temporal sclerosis involving right hippocampus. Studies have showed that depressive symptoms are more common in right-sided TLE, while psychoses with schizophrenic symptoms are more frequent in left-sided TLE. But in our case, the patient who had a right-sided lesion developed schizophrenic symptoms. On treatment with antiepileptic and antipsychotic medications, the symptoms remitted and subsequently the quality of life of the patient improved.