Related Experiment Videos
Changes in depression and anxiety after resective surgery for epilepsy
O Devinsky1, W B Barr, B G Vickrey
1New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. od4@nyu.edu
Neurology
|December 14, 2005
Summary
Epilepsy surgery significantly improves depression and anxiety, particularly for seizure-free patients. Surgical site or seizure focus location did not impact these mental health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Psychiatry
- Neurosurgery
Background:
- Refractory epilepsy often co-occurs with depression and anxiety, impacting quality of life.
- Resective epilepsy surgery is a treatment option for drug-resistant epilepsy.
- Understanding the impact of surgery on mental health is crucial for patient care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate changes in depression and anxiety symptoms following resective epilepsy surgery.
- To identify factors associated with improvements in affective symptoms post-surgery.
Main Methods:
- Prospective multicenter study data analyzed for 358 patients undergoing resective epilepsy surgery.
- Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) assessed pre- and post-operatively up to 24 months.
- Statistical analyses (chi-squared) used to correlate proportions and identify relationships.
Main Results:
- Prevalence of moderate to severe depression was 22.1% and anxiety was 24.7% before surgery.
- Postoperative depression and anxiety rates decreased significantly at 3, 12, and 24 months.
- At 24 months, 8.2% of seizure-free patients reported moderate to severe depression/anxiety, versus 17.6% and 14.7% of those with ongoing seizures.
Conclusions:
- Resective epilepsy surgery leads to significant improvements in depression and anxiety.
- Seizure freedom post-surgery is associated with greater reductions in affective symptoms.
- Neither seizure focus laterality/localization nor surgical site influenced baseline or postoperative affective symptoms.