Epilepsy surgery plays a pivotal role in the successful treatments of intractable epilepsy. In China, economic burden for epileptic patients is heavy. Because of limited economic resources, appropriate utilization of presurgical evaluation technologies is especially important for low-income patients, who could benefit from surgery. This study proposed the strategies for restricting the cost of presurgical evaluation for resective surgery in low-income population with refractory epilepsy. A retrospective study was performed on the database of patients with resective surgery from January 2007 to June 2009 in West China Hospital of Sichuan University. Presurgical evaluation technologies and outcome were analyzed. As a result, 143 patients underwent resective operation were included in this study. Seizure free can be reached at 63.8% patients with (ATL) and 61.1% with focal lesionectomy (FLE). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), positron emission tomography (PET), routine electroencephalography (REEG), video-EEG (VEEG) and invasive-EEG (IEEG) were used for investigation. The cost of those technologies was listed for consultation. Based on these findings, how to make the proper choice for surgery candidates was suggested according to different types of epilepsy.
Copyright © 2011 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.