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To report long-term efficacy and safety results of the SANTE trial investigating deep brain stimulation of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus (ANT) for treatment of localization-related epilepsy.

We examined the complex relationship between depression, anxiety, and seizure control and quality of life (QOL) outcomes after epilepsy surgery.

A total of 340 patients age 50 years and older were compared with 30 patients younger than 50 years, all of whom had anterior temporal lobectomy for refractory epilepsy. Seizure outcome, neuropsychological test scores, and change in driving status were analyzed. Age and duration of epilepsy were related independently to outcome, but laterality of interictal sharp waves (an early epilepsy risk factor) and presence of tumor were not. Sixteen patients (52) in the older group and 257 patients (75.6) in the younger group (p< 0.008) were seizure free. Postoperative neuropsychological outcome and driving status were similar in older and younger patients.

We studied the neuroanatomic correlates of ictal tachycardia in 27 seizures from five patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy being evaluated with bilateral temporal lobe depth electrodes and orbitofrontal subdural electrodes. There were 11 complex partial seizures, three simple partial seizures, and 13 subclinical seizures. For all seizures, heart rate (HR) increased in a graded fashion as new cortical regions anywhere in the brain were recruited into the seizure. HR plateaued at the new level despite EEG frequency changes until the next region became involved. Increases in HR did not correlate with increased duration of seizures but rather with volume of brain involved. Restricted amygdaloid seizure activity was generally insufficient to alter HR. We conclude that the amygdala has a limited role in modulating HR during seizures, and ictal tachycardia depends principally on the volume of cerebral structures recruited into a seizure.

Article abstract-We reviewed the historical features, preoperative diagnostic evaluation, operative procedure, and surgical outcome in 16 patients with refractory frontal lobe epilepsy. Clinical expression of the epilepsy varied widely, particularly with respect to seizure characteristics, although high monthly seizure frequency and absence of a risk factor for epilepsy before age 5 occurred more often than is reported in temporal lobe epilepsy patients. Seizures often caused early bilateral movements, were brief, and lacked oroalimentary automatisms and a prolonged postictal state. Both the interictal and ictal scalp EEGs had relatively poor sensitivity and specificity and often either contained no epileptiform abnormalities or were misleading. MRI usually identified structural lesions when these were present, although it was negative in two patients with tumors. In the absence of an MRI lesion, intracranial EEG usually identified the area to be resected, although it too provided misleading information in one case. Surgical procedures consisted of focal resections with or without anterior corpus callosotomy, or of corpus callosotomy alone. Nearly all patients improved after surgery, with a majority (67%) becoming seizure-free (average follow-up, 46 months). Preoperative seizure frequency correlated with seizure relief after surgery, as did age of seizure onset, whereas presence of tumor did not. We conclude that frontal lobe epilepsy warrants aggressive investigation and that surgical treatment often can be successful.

Men and women with epilepsy frequently complain of sexual dysfunction. We studied the sexual response in men and women with partial epilepsy of temporal lobe origin (TLE) by measuring genital blood flow (GBF) during sexual arousal. Nine women and eight men with TLE and 12 women and seven men as controls completed inventories for symptoms of depression, sexual experience, and sexual attitude and underwent measurement of digital pulse and GBF during alternating segments of sexually neutral and erotic videotape. Subjective ratings of arousal to the videotape were obtained. We calculated digital pulse and GBF response as the percentage increase in pulse amplitude during the erotic compared with the preceding sexually neutral film. No subject group reported symptoms of significant depression on the inventory. However, men and women with epilepsy had fewer sexual experiences than subjects without epilepsy, and women with epilepsy imagined specific sexual activities to be more anxiety-producing and less arousing than did women without epilepsy. Men and women with TLE had a diminished GBF response. The mean increase in GBF in men with TLE was 184 versus 660 for controls (p= 0.01). Women with TLE had a mean increase of 117 versus 161 for controls (p> 0.01). Digital pulse did not vary across stimulus conditions. Subjective ratings for all groups indicated moderate sexual arousal. We conclude that there is a diminution in one aspect of physiologic sexual arousal in some men and women with TLE.

Intracranial EEG recording is often required to identify an area of the brain for resective surgery for intractable epilepsy. We simultaneously compared bilaterally placed depth and limited subdural electrode EEG to determine the most effective method of recording seizures from the temporal lobes. Localized complex partial seizures usually appeared earlier in hippocampal depth electrodes and spread later to subdural recording sites. In 3 patients, hippocampal recordings showed localized seizure origin but subdural recording was nonlocalizing due to rapid bilateral seizure propagation. In 1 patient with nonlocalized seizures presumably of extratemporal origin, subdural electrodes incorrectly lateralized seizure origin to a temporal lobe. Auras and subclinical seizures detected by depth electrode recording were often not evident with subdural electrodes. We conclude that EEG recording with hippocampal depth electrodes correctly identifies and lateralizes temporal lobe seizures more often than with limited subdural electrodes.

Two patients are reported with palatal myoclonus, progressive ataxia, and dysarthria, unresponsive to treatment with trihexyphenidyl or L-5-hydroxytryptophan. MRI showed enlargement of the inferior olives in one patient, consistent with the pathology usually associated with palatal myoclonus. The syndrome of progressive ataxia and palatal myoclonus should be distinguished from other ataxias and degenerations that affect the brainstem and cerebellum. Pathology and specificity of site of the lesions are distinctive.

Palatal myoclonus (PM) is usually caused by lesions of the brainstem. We report a case of PM of focal cortical origin in a patient with epilepsia partialis continue. The PM sometimes occurred in isolation, and at other times was accompanied by unilateral face, neck, and arm twitching. This was documented by both EEC and SPECT.