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Background: Highly selective epilepsy surgery in temporal lobe epilepsy is intended to achieve seizure freedom at a lower cognitive risk than standard en bloc resections, but bears the risk of collateral cortical damage resulting from the surgical approach.Objective: To investigate cortical damage associated with selective amygdalo-hippocampectomy (SAH).Methods: 34 epileptic patients were evaluated. They were randomly assigned to SAH using either a sylvian (9 left/10 right) or a transcortical surgical approach (5 left/10 right). Postoperative MRI signal intensity changes adjacent to the approach were correlated with performance changes in serial word and design list learning.Results: Losses in verbal learning and recognition memory were positively related to signal intensity changes, independent of the side of the resection, the surgical approach, or the extent of the mesial resection. Losses in consolidation/retrieval (memory) were greater after left sided surgery. Losses in design learning were related to right sided surgery and signal intensity changes. Seizure outcome (85% seizure-free) did not differ depending on the side or type of surgery.Conclusions: Collateral damage to cortical tissues adjacent to the surgical approach contributes to postoperative verbal and figural memory outcome after SAH. Controlling for collateral damage may clarify the controversial memory outcomes after SAH reported by different surgical centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Epilepsy surgery has proved to be a successful intervention method to achieve freedom from seizures or seizure relief in children with pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Long term studies on operated children suggest that behavioural disorders, which are often seen before surgery, improve after surgery. However, the early postoperative development of behavioural problems has not been systematically evaluated.Methods: Parents of 28 children with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsies completed the child behaviour checklist (CBCL) preoperatively and 3 months after surgery. Surgeries comprised 24 focal resections (13 temporal, 11 extratemporal), two hemispherectomies, and two callosotomies. Twenty eight conservatively treated children with comparable CBCL scores served as a control group. A repeated measurement multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a regression analysis were computed to compare the development of behaviour between both groups and to identify predictors of postoperative changes in behaviour.Results: Preoperatively 39% of the children exhibited significant behavioural problems, a further 11% were within the borderline range. The MANOVA disclosed a significant interaction between time of examination and group (F=2.23, p<0.05). The surgery group showed significant improvements on the scales "internalising problems", "externalising problems", "attention problems", and "thought problems". Behavioural problems in the control group, however, remained unchanged. No changes were seen in social problems in both groups. The significant predictor of total behavioural improvement was a good seizure outcome (R(2)=0.11, p<0.05). Age, sex, onset, and duration of epilepsy, the site of the focus, and changes in antiepileptic drug regimen did not influence changes in behaviour.Conclusions: The data demonstrate an early improvement of behavioural problems after epilepsy surgery in children. The behavioural improvements can be assumed to result directly from the removal of the epileptic focus. They are not predictable on the basis of information available preoperatively, but depend on the seizure outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the influence of clinical, investigational, surgical, and histopathological factors on postoperative seizure relief in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) due to lesions other than ammonshornsclerosis (AHS).Methods: Of 738 patients operated for TLE, 78 patients underwent limited resections for lesional MTLE (1990-2000). Seventy four patients with a follow up of more than one year were included. The preoperative clinical, neuropsychological, electroencephalogram, and neuroimaging characteristics were prospectively collected in a database. The histopathological material was re-examined.Results: The mean follow up was 49 months. Fifty eight patients were classified as seizure free (78.4% Class I), and six as almost seizure free (8.1% Class II), grouped together as satisfactory seizure control (64 patients, 86.5%). Five patients (6.8%) were categorised in Classes III and IV, respectively. These were grouped as unsatisfactory seizure control (10 patients, 13.5%). Surgical procedures were: 32 amygdalohippocampectomies (AH), 17 partial anterior AH, 15 AH plus polar resection, seven AH plus basal resection, and three AH plus extended temporal lesionectomy. There was no mortality and 2.7% mild permanent morbidity. Seizure relief did neither differ significantly with these approaches, nor with different classes of pathological findings (43 developmental tumours, 12 glial tumours, 10 dysplasias, and nine others). Even operation of dysplasias resulted in 80% satisfactory seizure control. Seizure onset during childhood proved to be a negative predictor for seizure relief (p = 0.020). MRI revealed 73 suspected lesions (98.6%), one dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumour was missed, in four cases no structural abnormalities could be confirmed with histopathological exam. Additionally, multifactorial regression revealed the factors "seizure onset after 10 years of age", "presence of complex partial seizures", "absence of a neurological deficit", and a "correlating neuropsychological deficit" as predictive for satisfactory seizure control.Conclusions: "Preoperative tailoring" resulting in limit resections has proven to be safe and to provide a very good chance for satisfactory seizure relief in patients with lesional MTLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective was to evaluate response rate, response duration, and toxicity after systemic and intraventricular chemotherapy in primary CNS lymphoma (PCNSL). From September 1995 to September 1998, 20 consecutive patients with PCNSL (median age 64, range 27 to 71 years) were enrolled in a pilot study evaluating chemotherapy without radiotherapy. A high dose methotrexate (MTX) (cycles 1, 2, 4, 5) and cytarabine (ara-C) (cycles 3, 6) based systemic therapy (including dexamethasone, vinca alkaloids, ifosfamide, and cyclophosphamide) was combined with intraventricular MTX, prednisolone, and ara-C. Complete response was achieved in 11 and partial remission in two patients; in one response could not be determined. Four patients showed progressive disease and two (70, 71 years) died from treatment related complications. Observation time was 2 to 59 months (median 31.5 months). Kaplan-Meier estimate for median time to treatment failure (TTF) was 20.5 months, and for median survival 54 months. Systemic toxicity was mainly hematological. Ommaya reservoir infection occurred in four patients and acute transient MTX induced encephalopathy in two (subacute in another). Cognitive dysfunction possibly due to treatment was seen in only one patient after relapse and after a total of 12 cycles (six at relapse). In conclusion, primary chemotherapy based on high dose MTX and ara-C is highly efficient in PCNSL. Toxicity is manageable in patients younger than 70 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Existing speculations regarding the cognitive functions of the right hippocampus suggest a special involvement in non-verbal memory functions. However, all supporting evidence in epileptic patients came from postoperative studies that did not consider the preoperative functioning level. The present study investigates in patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy (RTLE), both preoperatively and postoperatively, the role of the right hippocampus for visual memory, visuoconstruction, and spatial visualisation.Methods: Two groups of patients with RTLE with and without right hippocampal damage (HC+/n=15 v HC-/n=13) were set up retrospectively thereby taking into account the surgical treatment (selective amygdalohippocampectomy v temporal resections sparing the hippocampus), the postoperative pathological findings (hippocampal sclerosis in the HC+ group) and the seizure outcome (all seizure free). The two groups were compared with regard to their neuropsychological performance preoperatively and 3 months after temporal lobe surgery.Results: The preoperative results indicated impaired visual memory performance only for the HC+ patients, whereas the HC- patients exhibited no deficiencies in any of the assessed functions. Postoperatively, both groups exhibited partially improved performances. The type of surgical treatment had no different effects on the postoperative performance changes.Conclusions: The results suggest that hippocampal damage is the major cause of non-verbal memory deficiencies in preoperative patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy. Hence the results support and extend findings from previous postoperative studies. Right hippocampal resections did not increase the preoperative visual memory deficiencies, thus supporting the view that right temporal lobe resection in general bears only small risks for cognitive deteriorations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gliosis only (GO) and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) are distinct histopathological entities in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. This study explores whether this distinction also exists on a functional level when evaluating pre- and postoperative memory., Methods: Using a retrospective matched case-control study design, we analysed verbal and visual memory performance in 49 patients with GO and 49 patients with HS before and one year after elective surgery., Results: Clinical differences were evident with a later age at seizure onset (18±12 vs 12±9 years) and fewer postoperative seizure-free patients in the GO group (63% vs 82%). Preoperatively, group and individual-level data demonstrated that memory impairments were less frequent, less severe and relatively non-specific in patients with GO compared with HS. Postoperatively, verbal memory declined in both groups, particularly after left-sided resections, with more significant losses in patients with GO. Factoring in floor effects, GO was also associated with more significant visual memory loss, particularly after left resections., Conclusions: Compared with HS, GO is characterised by (1) a later onset of epilepsy, (2) less pronounced and more non-specific memory impairments before surgery, (3) a less successful surgical outcome and (4) a more significant memory decline after surgery. Overall, our results regarding cognition provide further evidence that GO and HS are distinct clinical entities. Functional integrity of the hippocampus appears higher in GO, as indicated by a better preoperative memory performance and worse memory outcome after surgery. The different risk-benefit ratios should be considered during presurgical patient counselling., Competing Interests: Competing interests: CEE has served as a paid consultant for Desitin, Pfizer and UCB Pharma, outside of the submitted work; CH reports personal fees from Precisis, Eisai, UCB and GW, outside the submitted work; J-AW reports personal fees from Eisai, outside the submitted work; JT reports grants from EpiCARE & Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Prächirurgische Epilepsiediagnostik und operative Epilepsietherapie AG, outside the submitted work; DD, AG, AJB, EH and JE declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: To compare the effects of different surgical approaches for selective amygdalohippocampectomy in patients with pharmacoresistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with regard to the neuropsychological outcome and to replicate an earlier study employing a matched-pair design., Method: 47 patients were randomised to subtemporal versus transsylvian approaches. Memory, language, attentional and executive functions were assessed before and 1 year after surgery. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) with presurgical and postsurgical assessments as within-subject variables and approach and side of surgery as between-subject factors were calculated. Additionally, the frequencies of individual performance changes based on reliable change indices were analysed., Results: Seizure freedom International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) 1a, was achieved in 62% of all patients without group difference. MANOVAs revealed no significant effects of approach on cognition. Tested separately for each parameter, verbal recognition memory declined irrespective of approach. Post hoc tests revealed that on group level, the subtemporal approach was associated with a worse outcome for verbal learning and delayed free recall as well as for semantic fluency. Accordingly, on individual level, more patients in the subtemporal group declined in verbal learning. Left side of surgery was associated with decline in naming regardless of approach., Conclusion: The main analysis did not confirm the effects of approach on memory outcome seen in our previous study. Post hoc testing, however, showed greater memory losses with the subtemporal approach. Previous findings were replicated for semantic fluency. The discrepant results are discussed on the background of the different study designs., Competing Interests: Competing interests: CEE is consultant for Desitin and Novartis and received honoraria for talks from Pfizer and Eisai. CH reports personal fees from GlaxoSmith Kline, UCB Pharma, Pfizer, Desitin Pharma, EISAI, Viamed GmbH, assurance companies, courts and occupational insurance associations and grants from German Research Foundation., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Object: Resective surgery is a safe and effective treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy. If surgery has failed reoperation after careful re-evaluation may be a reasonable option. This study was to summarise the risks and benefits of reoperation in patients with epilepsy., Methods: This is a retrospective single centre study comprising clinical data, long-term seizure outcome, neuropsychological outcome and postoperative complications of patients, who had undergone a second resective epilepsy surgery from 1989 to 2009., Results: A total of 66 patients with median follow-up of 10.3 years were included into the study. Fifty-one patients (77%) had surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy, the remaining 15 cases for extra-temporal lobe epilepsies. The most frequent histological findings were tumours (n=33, 50%), followed by dysplasia, gliosis (n=11, each) and hippocampus sclerosis (n=9). The main reasons for seizure recurrence were incomplete resection (59.1%) of the putative epileptogenic lesion. After reoperation 46 patients (69.7%) were completely seizure-free International League Against Epilepsy 1 (ILAE 1) at the last available follow-up. The neuropsychological evaluation demonstrated that repeated losses in the same cognitive domain, that is, successive changes from better to worse performance categories, were rare and that those losses after first surgery were followed by improvement rather than decline. However, reoperations lead to an increased rate of permanent neurological deficits (9%), overall surgical complications (9%) and visual field deficits (67%)., Conclusions: Reoperation after failed resective epilepsy surgery led to approximately 70% long-time seizure freedom and reasonable neuropsychological outcome. There is an increased risk of permanent postoperative neurological deficits, which should be taken into consideration when counselling for reoperation., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/)

Objective: Limbic encephalitis (LE) is an autoimmune mediated disease leading to temporal lobe epilepsy, mnestic and psychiatric symptoms. In recent years, several LE subforms defined by serum antibody findings have been described. MRI usually shows volume changes of the amygdala and hippocampus. However, studies quantifying longitudinal volume changes in the acute disease stage are lacking., Methods: The aim of this retrospective observational study was to evaluate and quantify these volume changes by applying a fully automated volumetric approach to serial MRIs of 28 patients with antibody-associated LE. The results were compared with those of 28 age-matched and gender-matched healthy controls and analysed separately for the different antibody profiles and correlated with clinical parameters. Antibody profile analyses were exploratory due to the relatively small sample sizes., Results: We found distinct volumetric and clinical courses depending on the associated antibody. While LE associated with voltage-gated potassium channel-complex antibodies (VGKC-LE) showed highly significant larger volumes of both the amygdala and the hippocampus within the first 12 months after disease onset, LE associated with glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GAD-LE) only displayed greater amygdala volumes at this disease stage. Both subgroups showed a reduction of the amygdala and hippocampus volumes during follow-up with higher volume changes in VGKC-LE., Conclusions: These differences in the volumetric evolution corresponded to distinct clinical courses in terms of a more severe initial symptomatology regarding seizure, mnestic and psychiatric disturbances in VGKC-LE, which improved rapidly, corresponding to the evolution of the volumetric changes. In contrast to this, patients with GAD-LE were less severely affected at disease onset, showing a more unmodulated and chronic disease course during follow-up., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

Objective: Hemispheric neurosurgery is an established treatment for severe epilepsy caused by extended unilateral brain pathology. However, it is still an unresolved question at which age surgery should best be performed. In light of decreasing plasticity and the cumulative impact of seizures and anticonvulsants on neurodevelopment, early surgery appears preferable., Methods: We retrospectively investigated the medical, cognitive-behavioural and psychosocial long-term outcome (follow-up: 9.4 years (1.1-19.4)) of hemispherectomy as a function of age at surgery (early: <7 years/intermediate: 7-16 years/late: >16 years) based on a structured postal survey in a large patient sample (N=61/81, return rate: 75%)., Results: At follow-up, 45 (74%) patients were seizure free. Presurgical levels of intelligence were below average in most patients (79%) and postsurgical cognition largely resembled the presurgical capacities. Best seizure outcome was obtained for early surgery patients (90% seizure free). Patients with late surgery, however, exhibited higher presurgical and postsurgical intelligence and better psychosocial achievements. Binary logistic regression identified better presurgical intelligence and higher age at surgery as positive predictors of postsurgical intelligence. Lower presurgical intelligence and postsurgical seizure freedom predicted intellectual pre-post improvements., Conclusions: Our data confirm the efficacy and cognitive safety of hemispheric surgeries performed at different ages. Eligible older and high functioning patients can be perfect candidates. Presurgical intelligence serves as indicator of the functional integrity of the contralateral hemisphere, which mainly determines postsurgical cognition and psychosocial outcome. Seizure freedom promotes cognitive improvement. As many unknown factors determined age at surgery, our retrospective data neither question early surgeries nor suggest postponing surgery.

Objective: In the context of discussions on the optimal cognitive outcome of temporal lobe epilepsy surgery, and stimulated by recent reports on the beneficial effects of a selective subtemporal approach to memory function, this study evaluated the cognitive consequences of subtemporal versus transsylvian selective amygdalohippocampectomy (SAH) in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, taking verbal/figural memory and language functions into account., Methods: We contrasted cognitive outcomes of 26 subtemporal SAH patients with those observed in a transsylvian SAH control group. The surgical groups were pairwise matched with regard to clinical and demographic characteristics. Preoperative and 1 year postoperative memory and language evaluations served as within group factors, and surgical approach (transsylvian vs subtemporal) and side of surgery (right vs left) as between group factors., Results: Both surgical approaches caused decline in verbal memory to a similar degree. Differential effects were seen with regard to decline in verbal recognition memory (more affected by left transsylvian SAH) as well as in figural memory and verbal fluency (more affected by subtemporal SAH)., Interpretation: Different from previous optimistic reports, this study demonstrates that subtemporal surgery, such as transsylvian surgery, poses similar risks for verbal memory. Differences between the approaches appear to reflect the effect of different collateral temporal lobe lesions due to the approach. Different cognitive outcomes across studies on the subtemporal approach are discussed as being in part due to study design and the chosen dependent functional measures.

Objective: In temporal lobe epilepsy surgery, there is a trend towards becoming more selective in order to achieve seizure control with an optimal neuropsychological outcome. The present study evaluated whether mesial resection length matters for memory outcome after selective amygdalo-hippocampectomy (SAH). Therefore, a sub-analysis of the larger SFB/TR3/A1 multicentre randomised trial on seizure outcome and mesial resection length in temporal lobe surgery was performed., Methods: A homogeneous group of 67 selectively operated patients with hippocampal sclerosis as the sole pathology were allocated to a short (2.5 cm, n=34) or a long (3.5 cm, n=33) mesial resection. Repeated memory assessment and three-dimensional MRI data sets served as dependent within group variables, and intraoperatively determined resection lengths (short/long), resected hippocampal volumes (small/large) and side of surgery were independent between group variables., Results: Resection length did not have a significant effect on seizure or on memory outcome. The resected hippocampal volume also did not affect seizure outcome but it did make a difference with regard to memory outcome. Outcome in verbal learning and memory was poorer after resection of larger left hippocampal volumes. Figural memory outcome was poorer with larger resected volumes on either side., Interpretation: The data indicate that in SAH, mesial resection length and resected volumes have no differential effect on seizure outcome. The findings on memory outcome are best explained by suggesting that hippocampal volumes take the degree of preoperative pathology into account whereas resection length does not. This suggests resection of non-pathological functional tissues as the basis for memory outcome after SAH.