title: Microsurgical endoscopy-assisted anterior corpus callosotomy for drug-resistant epilepsy in an adult unresponsive to vagus nerve stimulation.
abstract: Because most of the corpus callosotomy (CC) series available in literature were published before the advent of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), the efficacy of CC in patients with inadequate response to VNS remains unclear, especially in adult patients. We present the case of a 21-year-old female with medically refractory drop attacks that began at the age of 8 years, which resulted in the patient being progressively unresponsive to vagus nerve stimulation implanted at the age of 14 years. Corpus callosotomy was recommended to reduce the number of drop attacks. However, the patient had only mild cognitive impairments and no neurological deficits. For this reason, we were forced to plan a surgical approach able to maximize the disconnection for good seizure control while, at the same time, minimizing sequelae from disconnection syndromes and neurosurgical complications because in such cases of long-lasting epilepsy the gyri cinguli and the arteries can be tenaciously adherent and dislocated with all the normal anatomy altered. In this scenario, we opted for a microsurgical endoscopy-assisted anterior two-thirds corpus callosotomy. The endoscopic minimally invasive approach proved to be quite adequate in this technically demanding case and confirmed that CC may offer advantages, with good results, even in adult patients with drop attacks who have had inadequate response to VNS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nasi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iacoangeli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Somma
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dobran
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Rienzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gladi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benigni
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Children's Hospital G. Salesi, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Passamonti
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Children's Hospital G. Salesi, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Nelia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zamponi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Umberto I General Hospital, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scerrati
keywords: Corpus callosotomy; Drop attacks; Endoscopy-assisted anterior two-thirds corpus callosotomy; Vagus nerve stimulation