title: Surgical complications of epilepsy surgery procedures : experience of 179 procedures in a single institute.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are a few reports on the complications of surgery for epilepsy. We surveyed our data to present complications of epilepsy surgeries from the neurosurgeon's point of view and compare our results with other previous reports.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 179 surgical procedures for intractable epilepsy (41 diagnostic, 138 therapeutic) were performed in 92 consecutive patients (10 adults, 82 children) during the last 9.2 years (February. 1997-April. 2006). Their medical records and radiological findings were reviewed to identify and analyze the surgical complications.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The diagnostic procedures encompassed various combinations of subdural grid, subdural strips, and depth electrodes. Four minor transient complications developed in 41 diagnostic procedures (4/41=9.8%). A total of 138 therapeutic procedures included 28 anterior temporal lobectomies, 21 other lobectomies, 6 lesionectomies, 21 topectomies, 13 callosotomies, 20 vagus nerve stimulations, 13 multiple subpial transections, and 16 hemispherectomies. Twenty-six complications developed in therapeutic procedures (26/138=18.8%). Out of the 26 complications, 21 complications were transient and reversible (minor; 21/138=15.2%), and 5 were serious complications (major; 5/138=3.6%). Five major complications were one visual field defect, two mortality cases and two vegetative states. There were 2 additional mortality cases which were not related to the surgery itself.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicate that complication rate was higher than previous other reports in minor complications and was comparable in major complications. However, our results show relatively high frequency of mortality cases and severe morbidity case compared to other previous reports. The authors would like to emphasize the importance of acute postoperative care in young pediatric patients as well as meticulous surgical techniques to reduce morbidity and mortality in epilepsy surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University, College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jun Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yong Soon
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Jun Jae
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Tae Hong
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyung Shik
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Sang Keun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Park