title: Intracranial, intraaxial, space-occupying lesions in patients with intractable partial seizures: an anatomoclinical, neuropsychological, and surgical correlation.
abstract: Fifty of approximately 250 patients evaluated for intractable partial seizures were shown to have a space-occupying lesion detected with radiographs and/or neuroimaging. Twenty-eight males and 22 females had a mean age at seizure onset of 13 years and a mean duration of seizures of 11 years. All patients had closed-circuit television with EEG monitoring and complete neurologic and neuropsychological assessment. Findings were correlated with lesion location and surgical data. Twenty-seven lesions (54%) were located in the temporal lobe. Thirty-five lesions (70%) were neoplastic. All patients with temporal lobe lesions had complex partial seizures, as did 74% of patients with extratemporal lesions. A good correlation between clinical seizure characteristics and lesion localization was found with the temporal, occipital, and frontal lesions but not with the parietal lesions. Sixty-six percent of patients had focal interictal EEG findings. Lateralization corresponded to the side of the lesion in 64% and was localized to the region of the lesion in 30%. Lateralized ictal EEGs occurred in 58% of patients, corresponding with the side of the lesion in all but one patient. Abnormal findings on neuropsychological testing were congruent with lesion lateralization in 56% of patients and were localized to the region in 26%. Thirty-nine of 47 patients who underwent a subtotal lobectomy to include the lesion are seizure-free after greater than or equal to 1 year of follow-up, and five others are markedly improved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Boon
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Novelly
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Mattson
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011859:Radiography