[Cerebral cavernomas followed by epileptic seizures: clinical picture, diagnosis, and treatment]

The clinical features of epilepsy associated with cerebral cavernomas and the results of different types of its surgical treatment: cavernonectomy, extended cavernomectomy, and epileptic focus resection were analyzed. The clinical, radiological, and electrophysiological data were studied in 48 patients with epileptic seizures associated with cerebral cavernomas who had been admitted to the Unit of Neurosurgery, Saint Anna Hospital (Paris, France) in 1982-2001. According to the severity of epileptic manifestations, the patients were divided into 2 groups: 1) 21 patients with single and rare seizures and 2) 27 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. All the patients received medical antiepileptic therapy. Twelve patients from Group 1 underwent cavernomectomy or "extended" cavernomectomy. In Group 2, 23 patients were operated on and 3 types of operations (cavernomectomy, "extended" cavernomectomy, and corticoectomy) were performed. Statistically significant differences were found in anatomic, clinical, and electrophysiological parameters. Criteria associated with the development of drug-resistant epilepsy were established. These included: the early onset of seizures, temporal cavernoma, and a combination of partial and generalized seizures in one patient. The paper shows it necessary to choose a surgical intervention in relation to the duration of seizures, their frequency, and a response to medical antiepileptic therapy. The advantages of surgical treatment over medical one were not found in single and rare seizures (Group 1), while in drug-resistant epilepsy, surgical treatment yielded much better epileptological results than did medical treatment. The volume of a surgical intervention depends on the sizes of an epileptic focus detected by an in-depth preoperative study and on the site of a cavernoma.