Abstract
Introduction Surgery for pharmacoresistant epilepsy is well accepted as an efficient treatment for children suffering the debilitating consequences of repetitive seizures. The goal of this study was to analyse seizure control and complications after epilepsy surgery in our center. Methods Data were retrospectively reviewed from 73 patients aged from 5 months to 16 years old who underwent epilepsy surgery at the Geneva University Hospital and Lausanne University Hospital between 1997 and 2011. Epilepsy surgery included temporal surgery (29 cases), extra-temporal surgery (32 cases) and hemispherotomies (12 cases). Three aged groups were identified: under 3 years old (18 cases), between 4 and 12 years old (35 cases) and between 13 and 17 years old (20 cases). Mean follow-up was 27.25 months (range 4–96 months). Results The overall seizure-free rate at the time of follow up was 65.7% (48 out of 73 cases). Interestingly in children under 3 years old, the seizure free rate after surgery was 83.3% (15 out of 18 cases). Also, the seizure free outcome was significantly better for temporal epilepsy (79.3%) compared to extra-temporal epilepsy (56.2%) ( p = 0.028, Conclusions These data highlight the good outcome and significant seizure free rate of epilepsy surgery at a very young age (children under 3 y/o). Efforts to promote epilepsy surgery in children are crucial since it significantly impacts on the cognitive development of these children. A better understanding of extra-temporal epilepsy is needed to help improving seizure free outcome in this large group of patients.
Published Version
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