Re-appraisal of callosotomy: rates and predictors of short-term seizure outcome in pediatric epileptic encephalopathy

Abstract

Abstract Background Epilepsy is a chronic debilitating disease especially in pediatric population. Most of reported studies for corpus callosotomy as a palliative surgery in drug-resistant cases are on limited number of cases and there is scarcity in literature for outcomes reported from developing countries. Here, we present our study on a large series of cases with analysis of potential predicators outcomes in the era of more expensive devices like vagal nerve stimulation to give a litany on a universal epilepsy surgery procedure which had been missed in the literature through the last decade. Results An observational retrospective study was done reviewing 129 patients with PEE underwent open microscopic corpus callosotomy. Total and drop attack seizure outcomes were studied after surgery. Potential outcomes predictors studied are: preoperative EEG and MRI. Preoperative IQ impairment epilepsy duration, age at diagnosis, MRI finding, IQ score, EEG findings, history of infantile spasm and extent of callosotomy done. All the recorded outcomes were substantially improved after callosotomy in our study population of 129 pediatric patients. The median (IQR) preoperative drop attack frequency was 70 (21–140) which decreased to 3 (0–14) postoperatively. Similarly, the number of anti-epileptics used by patients had a median of 3 (2–4) which decreased to 2 (2–3) after the surgery. All patients were experiencing status epilepticus which disappeared in 72% of the patients after callosotomy. Preoperative normal MRI was a predictor for drop attack favorable outcome and mild preoperative impairment of IQ was a predictor of favorable total seizure and drop attack outcome. Conclusions Corpus callosotomy is a well-tolerated palliative procedure for drug-resistant generalized epilepsy notably, drop attacks which had its notorious effect on quality of life of pediatric patients and their families, no appreciable prognostic factors for favorable outcome were clearly observed except for normal preoperative MRI, mild preoperative IQ affection, and complete callosotomy.