Surgery for catastrophic epilepsy in infants 6 months of age and younger.
OBJECTIVE
Few data are available concerning efficacy and safety of surgery for catastrophic epilepsy in the first 6 months of life.


METHODS
The authors retrospectively analyzed epilepsy surgeries in 15 infants ranging in age from 1.5 to 6 months (median 4 months) and weight from 4 to 10 kg (median 7 kg) who underwent anatomical (4 patients) or functional (7 patients) hemispherectomy, or frontal (1 patient), frontoparietal (2 patients), or parietooccipital (1 patient) resection for life-threatening catastrophic epilepsy due to malformation of cortical development.


RESULTS
No patient died. Intraoperative complications included an acute ischemic infarction with hemiparesis in our youngest, smallest infant. The most frequent complication was blood loss requiring transfusion, which was encountered in every case. The estimated blood loss was 3-214% (median 63%) of the total blood volume. At maximum follow-up of 6-121 months (median 60 months), 46% were seizure free.


CONCLUSIONS
Epilepsy surgery may be effective in young infants as it is in older children. However, intraoperative blood loss and risk of permanent postoperative neurological deficits present significant challenges.
Gowda
Shaila
S
Department of Neurology, Providence Park Hospital, Novi, Michigan 48374, USA. ssrinath03@yahoo.com
Salazar
Fortino
F
Bingaman
William E
WE
Kotagal
Prakash
P
Lachhwani
Deepak L
DL
Gupta
Ajay
A
Davis
Stephen
S
Niezgoda
Julie
J
Wyllie
Elaine
E
D000367:Age Factors; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical / Q000503:physiopathology; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000601:surgery; D038421:Hemispherectomy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D054220:Malformations of Cortical Development / Q000601:surgery; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000601:surgery; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013036:Spasms, Infantile / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome