Enhancing Safety in Epilepsy Surgery (EASINESS): Study Protocol for a Retrospective, Multicenter, Open Registry

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Epileptology
• Clinical Quality Improvement

Background:

• Optimizing patient safety and quality improvement in surgery is critical.
• Clinical quality registries and benchmarks are essential for assessing surgical outcomes and reducing practice variations.
• A need exists for international data to establish standardized reference values for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish robust, standardized outcome benchmarks for amygdalohippocampectomy in temporal lobe epilepsy.
• To create a clinical database from international centers for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.
• To provide reference values for evaluating new surgical techniques and comparing centers in future trials.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective, multicenter, open registry study (Enhancing Safety in Epilepsy Surgery - EASINESS).
• Inclusion of patients undergoing mesial temporal lobe epilepsy surgery between January 2015 and December 2019.
• Collection of patient characteristics, diagnostic tools, surgical data, complications, and seizure outcomes.

Main Results:

• Data collection for establishing standardized benchmarks is complete.
• Primary endpoints include seizure outcomes (ILAE classification) and postoperative complications.
• The study aims to define reliable outcome references for temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

Conclusions:

• The EASINESS study will define standardized benchmarks for amygdalohippocampectomy.
• These benchmarks will serve as crucial reference values for future clinical trials and comparative analyses.
• The findings will contribute to enhanced patient safety and quality in epilepsy surgery.