Objective: The authors of this study aimed to investigate surgical outcomes and prognostic factors in older patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) who had undergone resective surgery.
Methods: Data on patients older than 45 years of age with drug-resistant TLE who had undergone resective surgery at Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, between January 2009 and August 2017 were retrospectively collected. Postoperative seizure outcomes were evaluated according to the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) classification. Patients belonging to ILAE classes 1 and 2 were classified as having a favorable outcome, whereas patients belonging to ILAE classes 3-6 were classified as having an unfavorable outcome. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to identify the potential predictors of seizure outcomes.
Results: A total of 45 patients older than 45 years of age who had undergone resective epilepsy surgery for TLE were included in the present study. Eight (17.8%) of 45 patients had preoperative comorbidity in addition to seizures. The average age at the time of surgery was 51.76 years, and the average duration of epilepsy at the time surgery was 18.01 years. After an average follow-up period of 4.53 ± 2.82 years (range 2-10 years), 73.3% (33/45) of patients were seizure free. Surgical complications were observed in 13.3% of patients. Univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that an MRI-negative finding is the only independent predictor of unfavorable seizure outcomes (OR 0.06, 95% CI 0.01-0.67, p = 0.023).
Conclusions: Resective surgery is a safe and effective treatment for older patients with drug-resistant TLE. An MRI-negative finding independently predicts unfavorable seizure outcomes.
Keywords: AED = antiepileptic drug; ATL = anterior temporal lobectomy; EEG = electroencephalography; FCD = focal cortical dysplasia; ILAE = International League Against Epilepsy; MEG = magnetoencephalography; TLE = temporal lobe epilepsy; drug-resistant epilepsy; epilepsy surgery; seizure outcomes; temporal lobe epilepsy.