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Surgery for infants with catastrophic epilepsy: an analysis of complications and efficacy

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Abstract

Purpose

Infants with epilepsy often have a catastrophic course. There is a reluctance to operate in the very young, due to the perception of an unacceptable risk of morbidity with early operations. The purpose of this investigation was to better characterize the efficacy and safety of epilepsy surgery in infants.

Methods

Epilepsy operations performed on children under 1 year old, between 2002 and 2013, were reviewed for demographic information, epilepsy characteristics, surgical approach, outcomes, and surgical complications.

Results

Twenty-five patients, ages 11 days to 11.5 months (mean 4.7) at operation, were identified. All had daily seizures. Twenty-two (88 %) had an abnormal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Sixteen (64 %) patients underwent hemispherotomy at initial operation. Seven (28 %) infants had grid placement followed by focal resection. Focal cortical dysplasia was the most common pathology (40 %) followed by hemimegalencephaly (32 %). Complications occurred in 36 % of patients. These included hydrocephalus in five patients (20 %). Two patients had significant intra-operative complications which required unplanned staging of their operations. Both recovered without permanent injury. Mean follow-up was 62.4 months. Twenty patients (80 %) are seizure-free, and 10 (40 %) are off anticonvulsant medication. Two patients are Engel class 2, and the remaining three patients were Engel class 4, one of whom died with status epilepticus from the contralateral hemisphere.

Conclusion

Infants with localization-related catastrophic epilepsy can have excellent outcomes from early epilepsy surgery. Complications are common in this patient group and proper diagnosis can be challenging. Young age should not exclude infants with catastrophic epilepsy from consideration for early surgical intervention.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to disclose. We confirm that we have read the journal’s position on issues involved in ethical publication and affirm that this report is consistent with those guidelines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA

    Ramesh M. Kumar, Michael H. Handler & Brent R. O’Neill

  2. Department of Neurology, Children’s Hospital Colorado, 13123 E 16th Ave., Box 330, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Susan Koh & Kelly Knupp

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, Children’s Hospital Colorado, 13123 E 16th Ave., Box 330, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Michael H. Handler & Brent R. O’Neill

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  1. Ramesh M. Kumar
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  2. Susan Koh
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  3. Kelly Knupp
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Correspondence to Brent R. O’Neill.

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Kumar, R.M., Koh, S., Knupp, K. et al. Surgery for infants with catastrophic epilepsy: an analysis of complications and efficacy. Childs Nerv Syst 31, 1479–1491 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-015-2759-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-015-2759-6

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