Abstracts

RATIONALE: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the main type of surgically treatable epilepsy syndrome and encompasses two group of patients: hippocampal sclerosis (HS TLE) and non-hippocampal temporal lobe epilepsy (non-HS TLE). Post-op seizure outcome of the HS group is convincingly favorable and already well known. However, results of surgery of other etiologies of TLE despite their importance are much less reported. In this study we address the seizure outcome after surgery of non-HS temporal lobe epilepsy.
METHODS: 31 consecutive non-HS TLE patients, 3 to 49 years old, 13 males and 18 females, were surgically treated from 1995 to 2000. Post-surgical follow-up ranged from 2 to 7 years. Duration of epilepsy ranged from 1 to 37 years. 14 surgeries were performed in the dominant and 17 in the non-dominant temporal lobe. We analyzed age, sex, age at onset, age at surgery, side of surgery, duration of epilepsy, IQ, etiology, frequency of seizures, EEG and seizure outcome according to Engel Classification schema.
RESULTS: Age at onset varied from 6 months to 37 years old, and duration of epilepsy ranged from 1 to 37 years. IQ varied from 63 to 114, and 14 patients were not tested or testable. Main etiologies included abnormalities of cortical development (12 cases), dysembrioplasic neuroepithelial tumor (9 cases), other tumors (5 cases), gliosis (1 case), hamartoma (1 case), and cavernous angioma (1 case). Pathological exam was inconclusive for 2 cases. Seizure outcome disclosed 24 patients classified as Engel Class I, 4 patients as Engel Class II, 1 patient as Engel Class III, and 2 patients as Engel Class IV
CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that overall seizure outcome is similar to HS TLE series, and that there is no presurgical predictor of outcome
[Supported by: FAEPA, CNPq and FAPESP]