Surgical treatment of epilepsy: our experiences with 34 children.
Surgical treatment of medically intractable epileptic fits in children is highly specialized, owing to the specific etiology of epilepsies in this age group and the epileptogenic property of the brain in childhood. In our series of 340 patients operated on for medically intractable epileptic seizures, there were 34 (10%) patients up to 15 years of age (the youngest was 2 years old; mean age was 11 years). This group of patients comprises four subgroups: 9 patients with temporal foci, 6 patients with extratemporal foci, 16 patients with infantile hemiplegia and epilepsy, and 3 patients with epilepsia partialis continua (Kozhevnikov's disease). Preoperatively, detectable brain lesions were present in 30 (88%) cases, a much higher frequency than in adult surgical series. Postoperative follow-up so far is 1-14 years (mean, 4 years). Surgical outcome in this group of 34 patients is as follows: 21 (62%) are seizure-free, 8 (23%) have improved, and 5 (15%) have shown no improvement.
Ribaric
I I
II
Neurosurgical Clinic, University Clinical Center, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Nagulic
M
M
Djurovic
B
B
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D011612:Psychosurgery; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000601:surgery