A study of mortality after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery

To determine early and late mortality in a cohort of 305 consecutive patients who had temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) surgery over a 20-year period.

Survival status, cause of death, and postoperative clinical details of those who died were ascertained in a cohort of 305 patients who had TLE surgery. Mortality was related to postoperative seizure status, operative pathology, and side of resection.

The survival status of 299 patients was established. Twenty deaths occurred. Mortality was 1 per 136 person-years, with a standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 4.5 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2 to 6.6). Six deaths were sudden and unexpected (SUDEP). The SUDEP rate was 1 per 455 person-years. The overall death and SUDEP rates were lower than those reported for similar patient populations with chronic epilepsy. Mortality in patients who had right-sided resections for mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) remained considerably elevated with a mortality rate of 1 per 54 person-years, an SMR of 32.0 (95% CI, 24.7 to 40.5), and a SUDEP rate of 1 per 134 person-years. These patients had significantly lower seizure remission rates than left-sided patients, but the excess mortality was not simply explained by those patients whose partial seizures were uninfluenced by surgery. Patients who died had more severe or convulsive seizures despite an overall reduction in seizure frequency.

The present findings confirm previous reports that TLE surgery lowers but does not normalize the overall mortality associated with chronic epilepsy. In patients with right-sided MTS, however, the postoperative mortality has remained similar to other groups with medically intractable seizures.