Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026
Anteromesial Temporal Lobectomy for Medically Intractable Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: An Operative Study
Published on: August 15, 2025
Temporal lobectomy: resection volume, neuropsychological effects, and seizure outcome
Sadat Shamim1, Edythe Wiggs, John Heiss
1Clinical Epilepsy Section, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Objective:
The goal of the work described here was to evaluate relationships among resection volume, seizure outcome, and cognitive morbidity after temporal lobectomy for intractable epilepsy.
Methods:
Thirty patients with mesial temporal sclerosis were evaluated pre- and postoperatively with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III, Wechsler Memory Scale III, and three-dimensional coronal spoiled gradient recall acquisition MRI. Preoperative whole-brain volumes were calculated with Statistical Parametric Mapping. Resection volume was calculated by manual tracing. Systat was used for statistical analysis.
Results:
All resections included the temporal tip, at least 1cm of the superior temporal gyrus, and 3 to 5cm of the middle and inferior temporal gyri. Left were significantly smaller than right temporal resections. Seizure-free patients had significantly larger resections. Immediate verbal memory was significantly worse after left temporal lobectomy. Surgical outcome and resection volume did not affect postoperative neuropsychological results.
Conclusions:
Dominant temporal lobe resections are associated with immediate verbal memory deficits. Larger resection volume was associated with improved seizure control but not worse cognitive outcome.
