title: Preoperative depressive symptoms are not predictors of postoperative seizure control in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis.
abstract: Retrospective data analysis was performed in a sample of 45 consecutive patients who underwent epilepsy surgery for medically refractory mTLE-HS. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used preoperatively to detect actual depressive symptoms and label patients into those "with depressive symptoms" or "without depressive symptoms". Postoperative seizure outcome one, two, and three years after surgery was classified into "complete seizure freedom" versus "presence of auras and/or seizures". Postoperative seizure outcomes were compared in patients with and without depressive symptoms, and no significant difference of postoperative seizure outcome was found. However, there was a non-significant trend for patients with preoperative depressive symptoms to experience a postoperative running down phenomenon more frequently than nondepressed patients. Depressive symptoms, identified by the BDI, do not seem to have a predictive value for postoperative seizure outcome in this highly selected patient population with mTLE-HS, but may be positive predictors for experiencing a postoperative running down phenomenon.
authors.affiliation: Karl Landsteiner Institute for Clinical Epilepsy Research and Cognitive Neurology, 2nd Neurological Department, General Hospital Hietzing with Neurological Center Rosenhuegel, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lackmayer
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lehner-Baumgartner
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pirker
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Czech
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baumgartner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D038481:Anterior Temporal Lobectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012598:Sclerosis / Q000150:complications; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome