Pediatric epilepsy surgery

The use of implantable arrays of epidural electrodes has made it possible to carry out extraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) and functional localization in the awake child. This has permitted cortical excisions that are determined by criteria similar to those obtained during surgical procedures performed under local anesthesia in adults. In addition, the method also permits simultaneous ECoG and video monitoring during the child's symptomatic seizures, providing additional important localizing information that is impractical to obtain in operations under local anesthesia. We report our experience with 75 children, ages 5 months to 15 years, whom we have managed with epidural electrode arrays. The method of extraoperative ECoG is described and illustrative cases are presented to demonstrate its feasibility and utility in children. In addition, we call attention to gliomas as a common cause of chronic focal seizures in children. Of 49 children undergoing resection and followed for from 1 to 14 years (mean of 5.8 years), 32 (65%) are either seizure free or have had a significant reduction in seizure frequency that has unambiguously improved their quality of life. The results are analyzed further by relating the surgical outcome to each of the pathologic entities that caused the seizures. This analysis reveals the variety of neurological conditions that commonly cause intractable focal seizure disorder in children and distinguishes those pathologic entities in which the seizure disorder is apt to respond to surgical intervention from those that will not.