Outcome following surgery in patients with bitemporal interictal epileptiform patterns

Neurology. 1997 Apr;48(4):1037-40. doi: 10.1212/wnl.48.4.1037.

Abstract

We reviewed outcome at least 1 year after temporal lobectomy in 44 patients with bitemporal, independent, interictal epileptiform patterns on EEG. All 44 underwent preoperative intracranial monitoring. Twenty-two (50%) were seizure-free, 14 (32%) had at a least 75% reduction in seizures, and eight (18%) had less than a 75% reduction in seizures. We analyzed age of seizure onset, duration of epilepsy, gender, side of operation, history and clinical findings, findings on MRI, results of intracranial EEG-video monitoring, presence or absence of lateralizing neuropsychological deficits, and pathology of resected tissue to identify factors associated with outcome. Three factors emerged as independently associated with a good outcome: concordance of MRI abnormality and side of operation (p = 0.01), history of febrile seizures (p = 0.04), and 100% lateralization of intracranially recorded ictal onsets to the side of operation (p = 0.05). A seizure-free outcome was much more likely to occur if more than one of these factors was present: with at least two factors co-existing, 83% (15/18) of patients were seizure-free, while only 35% (7/20) were seizure-free with a single factor present (p = 0.0009). Of the six patients without any of the three factors, none were seizure-free. We conclude that it is possible to predict reasonably which patients with bitemporal epileptiform abnormalities will have a good outcome after surgery.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Electroencephalography*
  • Epilepsy / diagnosis
  • Epilepsy / physiopathology*
  • Epilepsy / surgery*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Medical Records
  • Middle Aged
  • Seizures, Febrile / complications
  • Temporal Lobe / surgery
  • Treatment Outcome