Early versus late antiepileptic drug withdrawal following temporal lobectomy.

PURPOSE: To compare the seizure outcome following early and late complete antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal following anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). METHOD: All the patients who were seizure free for one year following ATL were offered early or late AED withdrawal. AEDs were discontinued starting at one year in those who opted for early withdrawal. Patients who opted for late withdrawal were continued on single AED for three years following surgery before attempting complete discontinuation. RESULTS: Of the 135 study patients, 65 opted for early AED withdrawal and 70 for late withdrawal. The mean postoperative follow-up duration was 10.4 ± 1.3 (Range, 8-12) years. At three years following surgery, seizure recurrence occurred in 23 (35.4 %) patients in the early withdrawal group and in 10 (14.3 %) patients in late withdrawal group (p = 0.005; relative risk [RR], 2.48; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.28-4.80). At last follow-up, 27 (41.5 %) patients in the early withdrawal group and 26 (37.1 %) in late withdrawal group had recurrence (p = 0.60; RR, 1.12, 95 % CI, 0.74-1.70). At last followup, 80 (59.3 %) patients were off AEDs. During the terminal one year, 123 (91 %) patients were seizure free, similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: This nonrandomized controlled study suggests that early complete AED withdrawal starting one year following ATL is associated with a higher risk of early seizure recurrence. However, long term seizure outcome is similar in early and late AED withdrawal groups.

See-Saw Relationship and its Reversal after Immunotherapy in a Case of Graves' Disease with Coexisting Myasthenia Gravis.

The unique association of myasthenia gravis (MG) with Graves' disease in clinical practice emphasizes that one autoimmune disease can coexist with another or many. The relationship between these two entities has remained controversial till date. Some authors have reported a see-saw relationship between these two entities, MG waning with hyperthyroidism and waxing with treatment of hyperthyroidism. Treatment of both these disorders concurrently may be challenging at times as treatment for one entity may worsen the other. The use of beta-blockers and steroids for Graves' disease may worsen myasthenic weakness. Antithyroid drugs can worsen myasthenia probably by immunomodulatory effects. We report a case of Graves' disease coexisting with MG in a reciprocal relationship which was subsequently reversed after immunotherapy.

Predictors of seizure outcome following resective surgery for drug-resistant epilepsy associated with focal gliosis.

OBJECTIVEThe authors studied the clinical characteristics and postoperative outcomes of drug-resistant epilepsy associated with focal gliosis.METHODSFrom their epilepsy surgery database, the authors selected the patients with drug-resistant epilepsy and MRI-defined focal gliosis who underwent focal resective surgery. All patients underwent standard presurgical evaluation. Intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) was performed in patients with discordant presurgical data, ill-defined lesions, and lesions close to eloquent regions. Completeness of resection was defined on the basis of extraoperative and intraoperative electrocorticography studies. Favorable postoperative outcome was defined as Engel class I outcome during the last 2 years of follow-up.RESULTSSixty-six patients fulfilled inclusion criteria. An initial precipitating injury was present in 38 (57.6%) patients, mainly in the form of perinatal injury (n = 10), trauma (n = 10), and meningoencephalitis (n = 8). Gliosis involved a single lobe in 38 (57.6%) patients and 2 adjacent lobes in 14 (21.2%) patients; the remaining 14 (21.2%) patients had multilobar gliosis. In patients with unilobar or bilobar gliosis, the posterior region of the head was involved in 34 (65%) patients and the frontal lobes in 12 (23%) patients. During a median follow-up of 4 years (range 2-9 years), 41 (62.1%) patients had favorable outcome. On multivariate analysis, the presence of a well-defined aura (p = 0.019), electrocorticographically defined completeness of resection (p = 0.024), and normal postoperative EEG findings at 1 year (p = 0.003) were predictive of favorable postoperative seizure outcome.CONCLUSIONSFocal gliosis is a common etiology for drug-resistant extratemporal epilepsy in developing countries and is most often located in the posterior region of the head. The majority of these patients have perinatal injuries or neurological infections as initial precipitating injuries. Patients with focal gliosis have good postoperative seizure outcomes after well-planned resective surgery.

Outcome after seizure recurrence on antiepileptic drug withdrawal following temporal lobectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To study the long-term outcome following seizure recurrence on antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal after anterior temporal lobectomy for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. METHODS: We retrospectively studied the AED profile of patients who had a minimum of 5 years of postoperative follow-up after anterior temporal lobectomy for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Only those patients with hippocampal sclerosis or normal MRI were included. AED withdrawal was initiated at 3 months in patients on ≥2 drugs and at 1 year for patients on a single drug. RESULTS: Three hundred eighty-four patients with median postoperative follow-up of 12 years (range, 7-17 years) were included. Of them, 316 patients (82.3%) were seizure-free during the terminal 1 year. AED withdrawal was attempted in 326 patients (84.9%). At last follow-up, AEDs were discontinued in 207 patients (53.9%). Seizure recurrence occurred in 92 patients (28.2%) on attempted withdrawal. After a median postrecurrence follow-up of 7 years, 79 (86%) of them were seizure-free during the terminal 2 years. AEDs could be stopped in 17 patients (18.5%) and doses were reduced in another 57 patients (62%). Patients with febrile seizures, normal postoperative EEG at 1 year, and duration of epilepsy of <20 years (FND20 score) had 17% risk of seizure recurrence on attempted AED withdrawal. We also formulated a score to predict the chances of AED freedom for the whole cohort. CONCLUSION: Patients with seizure recurrence on AED withdrawal have good outcome with 86% becoming seizure-free and 18% becoming drug-free after initial recurrence. A FND20 score helps in predicting recurrence on AED withdrawal.

Interictal regional paroxysmal fast activity on scalp EEG is common in patients with underlying gliosis.

OBJECTIVE: Interictal regional paroxysmal fast activity (RPFA) on scalp EEG is common in patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). Little data exists regarding the presence of RPFA in other etiologies. METHODS: We studied the association between RPFA and etiology on MRI in patients with drug resistant focal epilepsy undergoing presurgical evaluation in 2011. RPFA was defined as ≥3 consecutive spikes with a frequency of ≥10 Hz lasting ≥300 ms but <4 s. RESULTS: 626 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, 138 (22%) patients had RPFA while rest had other interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). RPFA was located at posterior head region in 52.2% patients, frontal regions in 24.6% patients and over temporal regions in 17.4% patients. Focal gliosis (61, 44%) and FCD (27, 19%) were common etiologies in patients with RPFA. Compared to patients with other IEDs, patients with RPFA were more likely to have focal gliosis (61/138 vs. 39/488; p < 0.0001) or FCD (27/138 vs 37/488; p < 0.001) as the etiology of epilepsy. CONCLUSION: In developing countries, focal gliosis is more common than FCD as the underlying etiology in patients with RPFA on scalp EEG. SIGNIFICANCE: Focal gliosis should be considered as one of the common substrate for RPFA on scalp EEG.

A critical evaluation of the lateralizing significance of material-specific memory deficits in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

To critically assess the value of material-specific memory deficits in lateralizing temporal lobe dysfunction preoperatively, we compared the neuropsychological data of 50 consecutive patients with unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS; right: 31, left: 19) with those of 50 age- and education-matched healthy control subjects. On case-control comparison, both the subcohorts with left and right MTLE-HS performed poorly on intelligence tests, in addition to individual memory tests. However, comparison of the verbal and visual memory functions between subcohorts with right and left MTLE-HS revealed that learning trials and delayed word list recall were the only tests that hypothesized left temporal lobe dysfunction. We conclude that material-specific memory deficits are largely test driven, but there is a lateralizing role for task-specific deficits in left MTLE-HS. Although neuropsychological data help to define baseline neuropsychological impairment, caution should be exercised in interpreting the lateralizing value of material-specific memory deficits prior to surgery.