Clinical and Non-Clinical Treatment of Temporal Structural Epilepsy: A Brief Analysis

Abstract

Background. Despite the development of new medications and therapies, approximately 30% of patients with epilepsy in the general population have drug-resistant forms of the disease.

Objectives. To evaluate the effectiveness of various surgical procedures used to treat children with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy.

Methods. For the current analysis, we selected 26 pediatric patients between the ages of 4 and 17 years with an average of 4.5 years of disease progression. 18 of the 26 patients who underwent operative surgery received anticonvulsant therapy with (two or more) medications for at least three months without any results. The follow-up time was 1.5 years after surgery. Before surgery, patients underwent evaluations according to the epilepsy protocol followed, which included seizure semiology testing, brain MRI from 1.5 to 3T, cognitive testing, and neurological testing.

Results. The Engel scale was used to evaluate the results of the operation. Overall, this study found that 87% of patients with drug-resistant forms of epilepsy experienced favorable postoperative outcomes for all three types of procedures.

Conclusion. In the case of refractory epilepsy, surgical treatment should be considered as a therapeutic option, and this should involve an accurate, thorough, and sometimes invasive preoperative evaluation of the patient.