216 Chronic Subthreshold Cortical Stimulation for Adult Drug Resistant Focal Epilepsy

Abstract

Abstract INTRODUCTION Epilepsy surgery, while high successful for lesional epilepsy, can be associated with significant morbidity. The objective was to evaluate the safety profile of chronic subthreshold cortical stimulation in patients with seizure foci not amenable to surgical resection. METHODS Patients underwent intracranial electroencephalography monitoring. Those with seizure foci that were deemed unsafe for resection were offered trial of continuous subthreshold cortical stimulation via intracranial monitoring electrodes. After successful trial, trial electrodes were replaced with permanent stimulation. Patients with permanent implantation prior to February, 2016, reported their seizure severity and life satisfaction before and after stimulation. RESULTS >Eight patients from 2014 to 2016 were included in this study. Age ranged (19-56 years). Intracranial pathologies included: cortical dysplasia (n = 3), encephalomalacia (n = 3), cortical tubers (n = 1), and linear migrational anomaly (n = 1). The duration of intracranial monitoring ranged (3-20 days). All patients experienced were discharged to home (median length of stay: 10 days). No postoperative surgical complications have developed to date (median length of follow-up: 187 days). Patients (n = 4) reported a improvement in seizure severity (worst = 10) from mean 7.5 (SE 0.29) to 1.25 (SE 0.75) and life satisfaction (best = 10) from mean 4.25 (SE 1.03) to 7 (SE 1.1), mean follow-up 8.8 months CONCLUSION Our institutional experience shows that chronic cortical stimulation can be safely and effectively performed in appropriately selected patients without postoperative complications. Future investigation will hopefully provide further insight to recently published results into the efficacy of this novel and promising intervention.