Abstracts

Rationale: Depth electrode recording (SEEG) may be required as part of the presurgical workup of epilepsy patients. In this study we report our outcome data for depth electrode recording in epilepsy patients. Methods: A prospective database was used to review all patients implanted over a 5 year period ending January 2010. Only patients who had depth electrodes inserted for extraoperative recording were included in this report. Grid, strip and intraoperative depth electrode recordings were not included in the analysis. Results: For the 5 year period reviewed, 48 patients had a total of 384 depth electrodes inserted as part of their epilepsy evaluation. The average age of the patients was 33 years (range 5 - 55). On average 8 electrodes (range 2 - 16) were inserted for an average of 10 days (range 2 -19). Transient complications were infrequent (n=3). One patient pulled the electrodes out prematurely without consequence. One patient had a superficial skin infection requiring oral antibiotics. One patient had pulmonary edema post operatively requiring ICU admission. This patient recovered completely. The etiology of the pulmonary edema was unknown. Of the 48 patients implanted, 33 went on to have resective surgery (69%). With respect to outcome, 15/27 (56%) were Engel I, 5/27 (19%) were Engel II, and 4/27 (14%) were Engel III. Conclusions: Invasive depth electrode recording (SEEG) is safe. In properly selected patient populations almost 70% of patients can expect some surgical solution with an Engel I outcome expected in 56% of patients.