Long-term outcomes of epilepsy surgery in school-aged children with partial epilepsy

The pediatric epileptic spectrum and seizure control in surgical patients have been defined in developed countries. However, corresponding data on school-aged children from developing countries are insufficient. We summarized epileptic surgical data from four centers in China, to compare surgical outcomes of school-aged children with intractable partial epilepsy from China and those from developed countries, and introduce surgical candidate criteria. Data from 206 children (aged 6-14 years) undergoing surgical resection for epilepsy between September 2001 and January 2007 were selected. Postoperative freedom from seizures was achieved in 173 cases (84.0%) at 1 year, 149 (72.3%) at 3 years, and 139 (67.5%) at 5 years. Patients with focal magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities and a short history of seizure were most likely to become seizure-free postoperatively. Those with preoperative low intelligence quotients who became seizure-free postoperatively achieved improvements in full memory quotients, intelligence quotients, and overall quality of life at 2 years. Significant differences were evident in mean changes of full intelligence quotient, full memory quotient, and overall quality of life between patients with preoperative low intelligence quotients who received corpus callosotomies and those with a normal preoperative intelligence quotient, and between seizure-free children and those with continual seizures.