title: Is psychiatric assessment essential for better epilepsy surgery outcomes?
abstract: Epilepsy surgery is one of the most accepted and beneficial treatment for resistant epilepsies. However there is some variability in the comprehensive epilepsy care programs offered globally. Many centers do not do a psychiatric assessment unless required. It is now evident from a large body of research that epilepsy is associated with psychiatric morbidity which is also seen in patients considered for epilepsy surgery. There is also evidence to state that the risk for worsening or de novo psychiatric disorders is often seen post surgery. This calls for a comprehensive psychiatric assessment of all patients enrolled for the epilepsy surgery program to be evaluated pre and post surgically to minimize the risk of post surgical psychological disturbances and/or poor quality of life. Efficacious treatment of psychiatric disorders in those having psychiatric morbidity contributes to improved patient wellbeing, seizure freedom and better quality of life. Hence there is a need for most centers globally to include regular psychiatric assessment of epilepsy surgery patients as a protocol.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Psychiatry, Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Unit, Seth GSMC & KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai 400012, India. Electronic address: drneenas@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Neena
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sawant
authors.affiliation: Dept of Neurology, Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Unit, Seth GSMC & KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai 400012, India. Electronic address: ravatsh@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Sangeeta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ravat
authors.affiliation: Dept of Neurosurgery, Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Unit, Seth GSMC & KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai 400012, India. Electronic address: dmuzumdar@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Dattatraya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muzumdar
authors.affiliation: Dept of Neurology, Comprehensive Epilepsy Care Unit, Seth GSMC & KEM Hospital, Parel, Mumbai 400012, India. Electronic address: shahurvashi100@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Urvashi
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Shah
mesh_terms: D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Epilepsy; Epilepsy surgery; Postsurgical evaluation; Presurgical evaluation; Psychiatric assessment; Psychiatric morbidity