Epilepsia del lóbulo temporal farmacorresistente como resultado de un programa quirúrgico / Drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy as a result of a surgical program

Introducción: La epilepsia del lóbulo temporal es la forma más común de epilepsia focal en el adulto y la que mejor responde al tratamiento quirúrgico. Objetivo: Identificar la asociación entre variables prequirúrgicas, transquirúrgicas y posquirúrgicas y la evolución en pacientes con epilepsia temporal farmacorresistente sometidos a cirugía de epilepsia. Métodos: Se estudiaron para la cirugía 24 pacientes con epilepsia temporal farmacorresistente, en el Instituto de Neurología y Neurocirugía, entre el año 2012 y 2020. Se utilizó el test de Fisher para identificar la asociación entre variables. Se evaluó la escala de Engel al año de la cirugía y en el último seguimiento. Resultados: Se alcanzó libertad de crisis (Engel I) en el 66,7 por ciento de los casos, según último seguimiento, con un período ente 1 a 8 años. La resección completa de la zona epileptogénica y la ausencia de crisis en los primeros 6 meses de la cirugía estuvieron relacionadas con Engel I al año y al último seguimiento. De igual forma las estadísticas estuvieron relacionadas: la ausencia de crisis posoperatorias agudas con Engel I al año y menos de 10 crisis al mes previo a la cirugía, la desaparición luego de la resección, del patrón epileptiforme encontrado en la electrocorticografía preresección, con Engel I al último seguimiento. Conclusiones: La mayoría de los pacientes operados de epilepsia del lóbulo temporal farmacorresistente quedaron libres de crisis en el último seguimiento. La resección completa de la zona epileptogénica y la ausencia de crisis en los primeros 6 meses de la cirugía estuvo asociada a las estadísticas de los resultados posquirúrgicos(AU)

Introduction: Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common form of focal epilepsy in adults and the one that best responds to surgical treatment. Objective: to identify the association between pre-surgical, intra-surgical and post-surgical variables and evolution in patients with drug-resistant temporal epilepsy undergoing epilepsy surgery. Methods: Twenty four (24) patients with drug-resistant temporal epilepsy were studied for surgery at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, from 2012 to 2020. Fisher's test was used to identify the association between variables. The Engel scale was evaluated one year after surgery and at the last follow-up. Results: Seizure freedom (Engel I) was achieved in 66.7 percent of the cases, according to the last follow-up, with a period between 1 and 8 years. The complete resection of the epileptogenic zone and the absence of seizures in the first 6 months after surgery were related to Engel I at one year and at the last follow-up. In the same way, the statistics were related the absence of acute postoperative crises with Engel I a year and less than 10 crises a month prior to surgery, the disappearance, after resection, of the epileptiform pattern found in the pre-resection electrocorticography, with Engel I at last follow-up. Conclusions: The majority of patients operated on for drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy were seizure-free at the last follow-up. The complete resection of the epileptogenic zone and the absence of crises in the first 6 months after surgery were associated with the statistics of the postoperative results(AU)

Surgical Outcome in Extratemporal Epilepsies Based on Multimodal Pre-Surgical Evaluation and Sequential Intraoperative Electrocorticography.

OBJECTIVE: to present the postsurgical outcome of extratemporal epilepsy (ExTLE) patients submitted to preoperative multimodal evaluation and intraoperative sequential electrocorticography (ECoG). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: thirty-four pharmaco-resistant patients with lesional and non-lesional ExTLE underwent comprehensive pre-surgical evaluation including multimodal neuroimaging such as ictal and interictal perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans, subtraction of ictal and interictal SPECT co-registered with magnetic resonance imaging (SISCOM) and electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging (ESI) of ictal epileptic activity. Surgical procedures were tailored by sequential intraoperative ECoG, and absolute spike frequency (ASF) was calculated in the pre- and post-resection ECoG. Postoperative clinical outcome assessment for each patient was carried out one year after surgery using Engel scores. RESULTS: frontal and occipital resection were the most common surgical techniques applied. In addition, surgical resection encroaching upon eloquent cortex was accomplished in 41% of the ExTLE patients. Pre-surgical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) did not indicate a distinct lesion in 47% of the cases. In the latter number of subjects, SISCOM and ESI of ictal epileptic activity made it possible to estimate the epileptogenic zone. After one- year follow up, 55.8% of the patients was categorized as Engel class I-II. In this study, there was no difference in the clinical outcome between lesional and non lesional ExTLE patients. About 43.7% of patients without lesion were also seizure- free, p = 0.15 (Fischer exact test). Patients with satisfactory seizure outcome showed lower absolute spike frequency in the pre-resection intraoperative ECoG than those with unsatisfactory seizure outcome, (Mann- Whitney U test, p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: this study has shown that multimodal pre-surgical evaluation based, particularly, on data from SISCOM and ESI alongside sequential intraoperative ECoG, allow seizure control to be achieved in patients with pharmacoresistant ExTLE epilepsy.

Mortality in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy at a tertiary center in Cuba.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk of mortality in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. METHODS: Eligible patients included all adults referred to the National Institute of Neurology (NIN) in Havana, Cuba. All patients were followed up for 9 years. All analyses were made with the data available at the last follow-up. The frequency of death related to refractory TLE was analyzed taking into account the total number of patients included in the study. We analyzed the causes of death for each case. Multivariate analysis was made to determine the specific variables related to the death. All values were statistically significant if p<0.05. RESULTS: Six out of 117 patients died during follow-up. Fifty percent of patients died because of suicide. Only the presence of aura, specifically experiential psychic auras, and prodromal depressive disorders were associated significantly with the deaths (p<0.05). Patients who died had a higher concern about their seizures than patients who were still alive at last follow-up (p<0.01); they also had a poor perception of the overall QOL (p<0.01); and they were more concerned about the possible medication side effects than patients who did not die (p<0.05). Logistic regression provided only one variable related to the deaths in our cohort in multivariate analysis: presence of prodromal depressive disorder. CONCLUSION: The causes of death in patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy were similar to those documented in the general population of patients with epilepsy.