Abstracts

After epilepsy surgery for cortical dysplasia, a high percentage of patients may remain seizure free. The clinician for various medical reasons may decide to discontinue one or more antiepileptic drugs. It is reasonable to consider discontinuation of the antiepileptic drugs (AED) to perhaps decrease some of the side effects associated with these medications. We would like to identify whether patients will continue to remain seizure free after discontinuation of AED[apos]s., We are reporting five patients who underwent epilepsy surgery for resection of epileptic focus with pathology reported as cortical dysplasia. The seizure focus was localized electrographically . Structures resected include right posterior temporal region, right central sulcus, amygdalohippocampectomy, right frontal lobectomy, and a left parietal region resection. For various medical resons all of the patients had their AED[apos]s discontinued between six months to three years., All of these patients remained seizure-free between six months to three years after surgery, but had recurrent seizures after withdrawal of medications was attempted., Patients that had successful epilepsy surgery resecting the epileptic focus due to cortical dysplasia remained seizure free while on AED[apos]s but had recurrence of seizures when the medications were discontinued. This suggests that patients with cortical dysplasia may fail AED discontinuation despite having good seizure control postoperatively if the AED[apos]s are discontinued before three years.,