Outcome of surgical treatment in non-lesional intractable childhood epilepsy

PurposeThe aim of this study is to investigate seizure outcomes following epilepsy surgery in non-lesional neocortical pediatric epilepsy.MethodsWe performed a retrospective study on 27 patients with intractable childhood epilepsy who received epilepsy surgery between 1999 and 2006 at Sang-gye Paik Hospital and Severance Children's Hospital. None of the patients had any detectable lesions on MRI. Surgical outcome was assessed at least 2 years postoperatively; clinical characteristics, surgical outcome, pathologic findings, types of surgery, localizing features on SPECT, FDG-PET, and long-term video-EEG were reviewed.ResultsEighteen patients (67%) demonstrated an Engel class I outcome postoperatively. The mean follow-up duration was 4.3 years (range, 2.2–9 years). Eighteen out of 27 cases (67%) showed focal localizing features on ictal SPECT, and 21 of 27 cases (78%) showed abnormal findings on PET. Single lobectomy was the most common procedure, and was performed in 20 patients (74%). Multilobar resection was performed in seven patients (26%). Cortical dysplasia was the most common finding during pathological examination, and was observed in 15 (56%) cases. In addition, gliosis was found in two patients (7%) and non-specific pathological findings were described in 10 patients (37%).ConclusionsIn children with intractable epilepsy and a MRI demonstrating no abnormal lesions, epileptic surgery should be strongly considered when cortical pathology can be identified from other studies.