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Outcome after epilepsy surgery at the University Hospitals Leuven 1998–2012

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Abstract

We performed a retrospective outcome study of 199 patients who underwent resective epilepsy surgery from 1998 to 2012 and had a minimum of one-year follow-up at the University Hospitals Leuven. Our aim was to assess seizure outcome, prognostic factors for seizure outcome and complication rate. Good seizure outcome after surgery was 38 % at 5 years and 34 % at 10 years follow-up. Good seizure outcome over the previous year at last follow-up, however, was 77 %, which could be explained by the ‘running-down phenomenon’, i.e. seizure freedom after initial recurrent epilepsy in 32 % of the patients, mainly after temporal lobe surgery. Good seizure outcome for at least 1 year at the last visit was 82 % for temporal and 62 % for extra-temporal lobe interventions. Other variables predictive of a good seizure outcome were not identified. Permanent complications of epilepsy surgery were observed in 31 %. The most important were word finding difficulties (22 %), depression (18 %) and memory deficits (12 %). In conclusion, epilepsy surgery is an excellent treatment option for selected patients, with a good seizure outcome in around 80 % of patients and complications in about 30 %.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge all colleagues from referring hospitals who provided useful information that assisted with the completion of the follow-up data (dr. H. Hauman, General Hospital St.-Maarten Mechelen; dr. K. Smets, University Hospital Antwerp; dr. M. Van Orshoven, OLV hospital Aalst). We thank Dr. A. Palmini for his advice and input in the management of our patients during his fellowship (F/03/027) in the period 2003–2005. We thank the nurses of the longterm video-EEG unit: Aerts Guy, Decré Karl, Lescrauwaet Dorine, Likens Anja, Moldenaers Hilde, Puttemans Marleen, Van Driel Guido, Van Harck Beatrice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Lynn Vermeulen, Vincent Thijs & Wim Van Paesschen

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Johannes van Loon, Tom Theys & Jan Goffin

  3. Department of Neuropsychology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Kathleen Porke

  4. Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Koen Van Laere & Karolien Goffin

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Mathieu Vandenbulcke

Authors
  1. Lynn Vermeulen
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  2. Johannes van Loon
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  3. Tom Theys
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  4. Jan Goffin
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  5. Kathleen Porke
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  7. Karolien Goffin
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  8. Mathieu Vandenbulcke
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  9. Vincent Thijs
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  10. Wim Van Paesschen
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Correspondence to Lynn Vermeulen.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The ethics committee of the University of Leuven approved the study.

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Vermeulen, L., van Loon, J., Theys, T. et al. Outcome after epilepsy surgery at the University Hospitals Leuven 1998–2012. Acta Neurol Belg 116, 271–278 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-016-0605-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-016-0605-6

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