Predictors of psychiatric and seizure outcome following temporal lobe epilepsy surgery

Neurosurgery is an effective therapy for selected individuals with medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). De novo psychopathology may complicate the postsurgical outcome. Our aims were to identify predictors of de novo psychiatric and seizure outcome following TLE surgery.

Medical records of 280 patients who underwent TLE surgery were reviewed. Preoperative and postoperative psychiatric diagnoses were identified, in addition to information on seizure recurrence and neuropsychological status. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors of having a de novo psychiatric diagnosis and remaining seizure-free within 4 years following surgery.

One hundred five patients (38%) had significant psychiatric problems within 4 years following TLE surgery. Fifty-one patients (18%) developed de novo psychopathology; half of cases presented within 6 months and 90% of psychopathologies persisted 6 months or longer. A preoperative history of secondary generalized tonic-clonic seizure(s) (SGTCS) was an independent predictor of de novo psychopathology (odds ratio [OR] 2.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-6.59, p = 0.02). From patients with available seizure data, 49% (127 of 258) remained seizure-free for 4 years after surgery. Patients with a history of SGTCS (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.25-0.90, p = 0.02) and those with a preoperative psychiatric diagnosis (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.28-0.98, p = 0.04) were significantly less likely to remain seizure-free.

De novo psychopathology is a significant complication of TLE surgery. Inclusion of neuropsychiatric assessments in the presurgical evaluation may lead to increase in the power of prognostic models used to predict the neurologic outcome of TLE surgery.