title: Surgical treatment of patients with Rasmussen encephalitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rasmussen encephalitis (RE) is a rare progressive encephalitis that results in intractable seizures, cognitive decline and hemiparesis. Surgery seems to be the only effective way to control seizures in RE patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the clinical, electrophysiological, neuroradiological and histological findings of our patients with RE and to evaluate the outcome of their surgical treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 20 patients were identified by the criteria of RE. Surgery was conducted in the left hemisphere in 6 patients and in the right hemisphere in 14. The surgical methods included anatomical hemispherectomy, functional hemispherectomy, hemispherotomy, lesion resection, multilobar resection, selective resection and bipolar electrocoagulation of functional cortexes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean follow-up period was 5.45 years (range 3-8). After surgery, 16 patients (80%) were evaluated as being Engel class I. All of the patients had increases in cognitive abilities after surgery except 1 patient with bilateral RE. After surgery, most patients could walk independently, but the fine movement of the hands was lost. Postoperative hydrocephalus was observed in 1 patient after functional hemispherectomy, and there was no death in this series.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hemispherectomy and hemispherotomy were both confirmed as beneficial procedures in controlling seizures and improving quality of the life in RE cases.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, and Beijing Key Laboratory in Epilepsy, Beijing, China.
authors: Yuguang
authors: Y
authors: Guan
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Zhou
authors: Guoming
authors: G
authors: Luan
authors: Xingzhou
authors: X
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004564:Electrocoagulation; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004660:Encephalitis / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D038421:Hemispherectomy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult