Revision LITT for Epilepsy: How likely are patients to get a second treatment if the first fails?

Medically-refractory epilepsy is a serious neurological problem. Surgical resection may offer the greatest chance of seizure freedom, but is underutilized. Laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT) has minimal incision size and variable efficacy by pathology. LITT can be repeated to provide seizure freedom, however, the number of patients who receive subsequent LITT treatments after a failed first attempt is unknown. We aimed to review the literature on this potential patient population who might benefit most from multiple surgical treatments.

We performed a record review of multiple medical databases for studies treating 5 or more epilepsy patients with LITT utilizing the PRISMA guidelines. From the search, we reviewed 55 articles with a total of 1734 patients with at least six months of follow up. We recorded clinical variables, rates of seizure control after LITT, and details of follow up treatments.

Of 1734 total epilepsy patients treated with LITT, 46.4 % were listed as seizure free at last follow up. Out of 850 patients with data on additional procedural treatment, 40.5 % were seizure free and 59.5 % had persistent seizures. Of these, 29.1 % received subsequent intervention for continued seizures. These included additional LITT (55.4 %), surgical resections (41.9 %), and neurostimulator placement (2.0 %). Seizure freedom was achieved in 51.20 % of patients undergoing additional LITT, 62.9 % of patients undergoing subsequent surgical resection, and no patient undergoing neurostimulation. Lesions more likely to achieve seizure freedom with LITT were cavernous malformations (66.7 %) and hypothalamic hamartoma (66.4 %). Lesions less likely to achieve seizure freedom with LITT were temporal lobe epilepsy (43.6 %), focal cortical dysplasia (45.5 %), and periventricular nodular heterotopia (35 %).

Though LITT has respectable efficacy in epilepsy, not all patients may be participating in subsequent procedures after a failed first treatment. Patients should be advised that repeat LITT or subsequent surgical resection may be necessary for best chance of seizure freedom.