Laser interstitial thermal therapy: A first line treatment for seizures due to hypothalamic hamartoma?

Successful treatment of hypothalamic hamartoma (HH) can result in the resolution of its sequelae including epilepsy and rage attacks. Risks and morbidity of open surgical management of this lesion have motivated the development of laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) as a less invasive treatment approach to the disease. Although overall morbidity and risk would appear to be lower, complications related to LITT therapy have been reported, and the longer-term follow-up that is now possible after initial experience helps address the question of whether LITT provides equivalent efficacy compared to other treatment options. We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical outcomes in eight patients undergoing LITT for HH at our center using the Visualase/Medtronic device. Five patients had refractory epilepsy, one had rage attacks, and two had both. We also compared the published seizure-free outcomes over time and the complication rates for different interventional approaches to the treatment of epilepsy due to HH including open craniotomy, neuroendoscopic, radiosurgical, and radiofrequency approaches. With a mean follow-up of 19.1 months in our series of eight patients, six of seven epilepsy patients achieved seizure freedom, whereas the one patient with rage attacks only did not have improvement of his symptoms. A length of hospital stay of 2.6 days reflects low morbidity and rapid postoperative recuperation with LITT. Considering other reported series and case reports, the overall published seizure freedom rate of 21 of 25 patients is superior to published outcomes of HH cases treated by stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), craniotomy, or neuroendoscopy, and comparable to radiofrequency ablation. The cumulative experience of our center with other published series supports relatively lower operative morbidity than more invasive approaches and efficacy that is as good or better than open craniotomy procedures and SRS. Although morbidity appears to be lower than other open approaches, complications related to LITT and their avoidance should be considered carefully.