Nonresective hippocampal surgery for epilepsy

Clinical experience with a new surgical procedure called multiple hippocampal transections is described. In this procedure, seizure circuits within the hippocampus are disrupted by making multiple cuts parallel to the hippocampal digitations; while the vertical functional fibers are preserved.

Ten patients with temporal lobe epilepsy are described. The male/female ratio is 6:4, the ages of the patients were 20-53 years, and follow-up periods were 10-34 months, with a median of 21 months. Five patients had no hippocampal sclerosis, two had minimal sclerosis, and three had significant sclerosis. Six patients had surgery on the dominant side and five had failed the Wada test. Multiple hippocampal transections were made at 4-mm intervals. The neocortex was then treated with multiple subpial transections. In addition, six patients had resections of the temporal tip.

There were no permanent neurologic complications: seven patients are seizure-free, two have rare seizures, and one has 60% decrease in seizure frequency. Eight patients had both pre- and postoperative memory testing. Among these eight patients, five had improved verbal memory, three had improved visual memory, and three had a slight drop in visual memory.

This is a small series with a short follow-up period. However, the results are encouraging enough to warrant further trials. In addition, this may be an effective alternative procedure for those who fail the Wada test and do not have significant temporal lobe sclerosis or who have seizures originating from the dominant side.