[Epilepsy surgery in childhood: neuropsychological and quality of life assessments].
OBJECTIVE
To perform neuropsychological and quality of life assessments before and after epilepsy surgery in children; to correlate these parameters with clinical findings.


METHODS
Nine children with refractory epilepsy were evaluated before and six months after the surgical treatment with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and quality of life questionnaire. Children had variable etiologies and surgical procedures.


RESULTS
IQ changes did not occur; two children with temporal lobe epilepsy due to tumor had important behavior impairment after surgery despite complete seizure control; best neuropsychological improvement was seen in the child who had Rasmussen's encephalitis and underwent hemispherectomy. Social aspects, drug side effects, seizure perception and the overall level of quality of life improved after surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
Quality of life improvement was clearly correlated with seizure control; nevertheless, neuropsychological improvement depended on several factors, such as etiology, type of epilepsy and surgery.
Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brasil.
Catarina Abraão
CA
Guimarães
Elisabete A P
EA
Souza
Maria Augusta
MA
Montenegro
Fernando
F
Cendes
Marilisa M
MM
Guerreiro
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000601:surgery*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000592:standards*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011788:Quality of Life; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome