1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-11-35-b 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-11-5-4 Seizure Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Epilepsy Surgery Outcome in Children http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 05 1997 01 05 2016 11 5 35 35 Copyright: © 1997 The Author(s) 1997 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Epilepsy surgery outcome: comprehensive assessment in children

Seizure frequency, neuropsychological function, quality of life, and need for antiepileptic drugs were evaluated in 33 consecutive children following epilepsy surgery at 12 years of age or younger at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Centers.

 Epilepsy Surgery Antiepileptic Drugs Quadrantanopia

Seizure frequency, neuropsychological function, quality of life, and need for antiepileptic drugs were evaluated in 33 consecutive children following epilepsy surgery at 12 years of age or younger at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Centers. Two thirds were seizure-free after a mean follow-up of 3 years, and only 4 showed no improvement. Antiepileptic drugs were discontinued in 30%, and a similar percentage of patients tested psychologically showed a more than 10 point improvement in Verbal or Performance IQ. One patient had a mild hemiparesis and another a quadrantanopia. Inferior scores noted in quality of life questionnaires were unexplained. [1]

COMMENT. This study confirms that surgery can be an effective treatment of refractory epilepsy in children, and surgical complications are unusual. The selection of patients is aided by video/EEG monitoring of seizures, intracranial monitoring or electrocorticography at the time of surgery, and PET or ictal SPECT imaging in some cases.

Gilliam F Wyllie E Kashden J Faught E Kotagal P Bebin M Epilepsy surgery outcome: comprehensive assessment in children Neurology 1997 May 48 5 1368 1374 10.1212/WNL.48.5.1368 9153475