Epilepsy Surgery in Children versus Adults

Epilepsy surgery education and practice around the globe: An ILAE taskforce report

Up to 80% of the world's population with epilepsy lives in low and middle-income countries. Around one-third of these patients will have drug-resistant epilepsy, for which epilepsy surgery is an option. Unfortunately, many of these regions, as well as some more developed nations, lack sufficient epilepsy surgery units and trained neurosurgeons. With this in mind, the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) formed the Epilepsy Surgery Education Taskforce to address the shortage of further educational opportunities for surgeons and neurologists and to promote the creation of more epilepsy surgery units around the world. In this article, we publish our findings from a web-based international survey, in which we investigated the global distribution and experience of neurosurgeons who perform epilepsy surgery, their educational paths, and opinions on the further need for epilepsy surgery education, as well as the resources available to them. We report a detailed analysis of the 202 survey replies received from 35 different countries across six continents. The lack of adequate numbers of epilepsy surgery units in the Southern Hemisphere is notable, and the aim of this task force with other ILAE committees, is to improve access to epilepsy surgery for patients and to enhance training for their health care providers.

Escaping the Procrustean Bed: A Perspective on Pediatric Stereoelectroencephalography

SUMMARY

Stereoelectroencephalography is an established, hypothesis-driven method for investigating refractory epilepsy. There are special considerations and some limitations that apply to children who undergo stereoelectroencephalography. A key principle in stereoelectroencephalography is taking an individualized approach to investigating refractory epilepsy. A crucial factor for success in a personalized pediatric epilepsy surgery is understanding some of the fundamental and unique aspects of it, including, but not limited to, diverse etiology, epilepsy syndromes, maturation, and age-related characteristics as well as neural plasticity. Such features are reflected in the ontogeny of semiology and electrophysiology. In addition, special considerations are taken into account during cortical stimulation in children. Stereoelectroencephalography can guide a tailored surgical intervention where it is sufficient to render the patient seizure-free but it also lessens collateral damage with a minimum or no functional deficit. Epilepsy surgery outcomes remain stagnant despite advances in noninvasive testing modalities. A stereoelectroencephalography "way of thinking" and guided mentorship may influence outcomes positively.

Verbal episodic memory in children undergoing temporal lobe epilepsy surgery: a one-year follow-up study

INTRODUCTION

Verbal episodic memory (VEM) is often unimpaired in children with focal epilepsy undergoing left temporal lobe resections, unlike what we might expect in the adult brain. The latter findings suggest that epileptiform activity in early life disrupts memory system lateralization, leading to the development of bilateral memory representation. The present study aims to analyze whether the laterality of epilepsy is a major predictor for post-operative VEM prognosis in pediatric temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) surgery. This research also pretends to provide evidence about the relationship of VEM performance with other relevant demographical and clinical factors such as sex, age at onset of seizures, age at surgery and duration of epilepsy, as well as to study the impact of presurgical VEM performance on postsurgical outcomes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Pre-operative and one-year follow-up post-operative word-list recall scores from 25 children who underwent TLE surgery (left-sided, n = 11; right-sided, n = 14) were extracted from the Hospital Sant Joan de Deu database and were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

No significant presurgical intergroup differences were found when comparing VEM scores by laterality of epilepsy (p > 0.5). Looking at the left TLE group, a high negative correlation was found between the onset age and the pre-operative long-term free recall score (rho = -0.72, p = 0.01). No significant pre- to post-operative intragroup changes were found regarding VEM performance, regardless of epilepsy laterality (left TLE group, p > 0.56; right TLE group, p > 0.12).

CONCLUSIONS

The laterality of epilepsy does not show to be a significant factor in and of itself regarding presurgical VEM outcome and its prognosis one year after surgery, thus supporting the bilateral memory representation hypothesis. Furthermore, a younger age at onset of seizures seems to be related with a better pre-operative VEM performance, likely due to a more efficient reorganization of memory system induced by a greater brain plasticity at lower ages; however, this relationship has been only reported for the left-sided epilepsies in our sample.

Responsive neurostimulation for treatment of pediatric refractory epilepsy: A pooled analysis of the literature

BACKGROUND

Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) is a complex medical condition often requiring resective surgery and/or some form of neurostimulation. In recent years responsive neurostimulation (RNS) has shown promising results in adult DRE, however there is a paucity of information regarding outcomes of RNS among pediatric patients treated with DRE. In this individual patient data meta-analysis (IPDMA) we seek to elucidate the effects RNS has on the pediatric population.

METHODS

Literature regarding management of pediatric DRE via RNS was reviewed in accordance with individual patient data meta-analysis guidelines. Four databases were searched with keywords ((Responsive neurostimulation) AND (epilepsy)) through December of 2022. From 1624 retrieved full text studies, 15 were ultimately included affording a pool of 98 individual participants.

RESULTS

The median age at implantation was 14 years (n = 95) with 42% of patients having undergone prior resective epilepsy surgery, 18% with prior vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), and 1% with prior RNS. At a median follow up time 12 months, median percent seizure reduction was 75% with 57% of patients achieving Engel Class < 2 outcome, 9.7% of which achieved seizure freedom. We report a postoperative complication rate of 8.4%, half of which were device-related infections. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-negative cases were negatively associated with magnitude of seizure reduction, and direct targeting techniques were associated with stronger treatment response when compared to other methods.

CONCLUSIONS

This review suggests RNS to be an effective treatment modality for pediatric patients with a postoperative complication rate comparable to that of RNS in adults. Investigation of prognostic clinical variables should be undertaken to augment patient selection. Last, multi-institutional prospective study of long-term effects of RNS on pediatric patients would stand to benefit clinicians in the management of pediatric DRE.

Consensus on pediatric epilepsy surgery for young children: an investigation by the China Association Against Epilepsy task force on epilepsy surgery

Researchers have widely acknowledged the therapeutic value of epilepsy surgery for drug-resistant epilepsy. Nonetheless, there is a substantial gap in the surgical treatment for appropriate candidates owing to several factors, particularly in the population of young children. To standardize the protocols of preoperative evaluation and surgery of young children for epilepsy surgery, the China Association Against Epilepsy has appointed an expert task force to standardize the protocols of preoperative evaluation and surgery in pediatric epilepsy patients. It adopted the modified Delphi method and performed two rounds of surveys through an anonymous inquiry among 75 experts from four subgroups including pediatric neurologists, epileptologists, pediatric epilepsy surgeons, and functional neurosurgeons. The survey contents contained: (1) the participants, comprising children aged ≤ 6 years; (2) adopted DRE definition proposed by the International League Against Epilepsy in 2010; and (3) investigated epilepsy surgery, principally referring to curative epilepsy surgeries. The neuromodulation therapies were excluded because of the differences in treatment mechanisms from the above-mentioned surgeries. According to the Delphi process, a consensus was achieved for most aspects by incorporating two rounds of surveys including preoperative assessment, surgical strategies and techniques, and perioperative and long-term postoperative management, despite controversial opinions on certain items. We hope the results of this consensus will improve the level of surgical treatment and management of intractable epilepsy in young children.

Anti-inflammatory effects of vagus nerve stimulation in pediatric patients with epilepsy

Introduction

The neural control of the immune system by the nervous system is critical to maintaining immune homeostasis, whose disruption may be an underlying cause of several diseases, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Alzheimer's disease.

Methods

Here we studied the role of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) on gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Vagus nerve stimulation is widely used as an alternative treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy. Thus, we studied the impact that VNS treatment has on PBMCs isolated from a cohort of existing patients with medically refractory epilepsy. A comparison of genome-wide changes in gene expression was made between the epilepsy patients treated and non-treated with vagus nerve stimulation.

Results

The analysis showed downregulation of genes related to stress, inflammatory response, and immunity, suggesting an anti-inflammatory effect of VNS in epilepsy patients. VNS also resulted in the downregulation of the insulin catabolic process, which may reduce circulating blood glucose.

Discussion

These results provide a potential molecular explanation for the beneficial role of the ketogenic diet, which also controls blood glucose, in treating refractory epilepsy. The findings indicate that direct VNS might be a useful therapeutic alternative to treat chronic inflammatory conditions.

Clinical utility of intraoperative electrocorticography for epilepsy surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Despite the widespread use of intraoperative electrocorticography (iECoG) during resective epilepsy surgery, there are conflicting data on its overall efficacy and inability to predict benefit per pathology. Given the heterogeneity of iECoG use in resective epilepsy surgery, it is important to assess the utility of interictal-based iECoG. This individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis seeks to identify the benefit of iECoG during resective epilepsy surgery in achieving seizure freedom for various pathologies. Embase, Scopus, and PubMed were searched from inception to January 31, 2021 using the following terms: "ecog", "electrocorticography", and "epilepsy". Articles were included if they reported seizure freedom at ≥12-month follow-up in cohorts with and without iECoG for epilepsy surgery. Non-English articles, noncomparative iECoG cohorts, and studies with <10% iECoG use were excluded. This meta-analysis followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The primary outcome was seizure freedom at last follow-up and time to seizure recurrence, if applicable. Forest plots with random effects modeling assessed the relationship between iECoG use and seizure freedom. Cox regression of IPD was performed to identify predictors of longer duration of seizure freedom. Kaplan-Meier curves with log-rank test were created to visualize differences in time to seizure recurrence. Of 7504 articles identified, 18 were included for study-level analysis. iECoG was not associated with higher seizure freedom at the study level (relative risk = 1.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96-1.23, p = .19, I²  = 64%), but on IPD (n = 7 studies, 231 patients) iECoG use was independently associated with more favorable seizure outcomes (hazard ratio = 0.47, 95% CI = .23-.95, p = .037). In Kaplan-Meier analysis of specific pathologies, iECoG use was significantly associated with longer seizure freedom only for focal cortical dysplasia (FCD; p < .001) etiology. Number needed to treat for iECoG was 8.8, and for iECoG in FCD it was 4.7. We show iECoG seizure freedom is not achieved uniformly across centers. iECoG is particularly beneficial for FCD etiology in improving seizure freedom.

Automated seizure onset zone locator from resting-state functional MRI in drug-resistant epilepsy

OBJECTIVE

Accurate localization of a seizure onset zone (SOZ) from independent components (IC) of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) improves surgical outcomes in children with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). Automated IC sorting has limited success in identifying SOZ localizing ICs in adult normal rs-fMRI or uncategorized epilepsy. Children face unique challenges due to the developing brain and its associated surgical risks. This study proposes a novel SOZ localization algorithm (EPIK) for children with DRE.

METHODS

EPIK is developed in a phased approach, where fMRI noise-related biomarkers are used through high-fidelity image processing techniques to eliminate noise ICs. Then, the SOZ markers are used through a maximum likelihood-based classifier to determine SOZ localizing ICs. The performance of EPIK was evaluated on a unique pediatric DRE dataset (n = 52). A total of 24 children underwent surgical resection or ablation of an rs-fMRI identified SOZ, concurrently evaluated with an EEG and anatomical MRI. Two state-of-art techniques were used for comparison: (a) least squares support-vector machine and (b) convolutional neural networks. The performance was benchmarked against expert IC sorting and Engel outcomes for surgical SOZ resection or ablation. The analysis was stratified across age and sex.

RESULTS

EPIK outperformed state-of-art techniques for SOZ localizing IC identification with a mean accuracy of 84.7% (4% higher), a precision of 74.1% (22% higher), a specificity of 81.9% (3.2% higher), and a sensitivity of 88.6% (16.5% higher). EPIK showed consistent performance across age and sex with the best performance in those < 5 years of age. It helped achieve a ~5-fold reduction in the number of ICs to be potentially analyzed during pre-surgical screening.

SIGNIFICANCE

Automated SOZ localization from rs-fMRI, validated against surgical outcomes, indicates the potential for clinical feasibility. It eliminates the need for expert sorting, outperforms prior automated methods, and is consistent across age and sex.

Pediatric epilepsy surgery in patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome after viral encephalitis

Objective

To analyse the surgical outcomes of pediatric patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) secondary to viral encephalitis.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed the data of four patients with LGS secondary to viral encephalitis who underwent surgery at the pediatric epilepsy center of Peking University First Hospital from January 2014 to December 2019. Preoperative evaluations included a detailed history, long-term video electroencephalography (VEEG), brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and a neuropsychological test. All patients were followed up at 1, 3, and 6 months and then yearly. The surgical outcome was evaluated according to the Engel classification.

Results

Among the four children, the surgeries were right temporo-parieto-occipital disconnection (case 1), corpus callosotomy (case 2), left temporo-parieto-occipital disconnection (case 3), and left temporal lobectomy (case 4). The pathology was gliosis secondary to viral encephalitis. The median follow-up time was 4 years (3-5 years). At the last follow-up, one case had Engel I, two cases had Engel III, and one case had Engel IV.

Conclusions

Preliminary observations shows that surgical treatment may be challenging for patients with LGS secondary to viral encephalitis. However, suitable surgical candidacy and approaches have a significant impact on the prognosis of the patients.

Retrospective Clinical Analysis of Epilepsy Treatment for Children with Drug-Resistant Epilepsy (A Single-Center Experience)

Objectives: This retrospective cohort study investigated the clinical characteristics and seizure outcomes of patients aged 1−14 years with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) who were treated by different typologies of therapy. Methods: Four hundred and eighteen children with DRE were recruited from Sanbo Brain Hospital of Capital Medical University from April 2008 to February 2015. The patients were divided into three groups: medication (n = 134, 32.06%), resection surgery (n = 185, 44.26%), and palliative surgery (n = 99, 23.68%) groups. Demographic characteristics were attained from medical records. All patients were followed up for at least 5 years, with seizure outcomes classified according to International League Against Epilepsy criteria. The psychological outcome was evaluated with the development quotient and Wechsler Intelligence Quotient Scale for children (Chinese version). Results: The most frequent seizure type was generalized tonic seizure in 53.83% of patients. Age at seizure onset in 54.55% of patients was <3 years. The most frequent etiologies were focal cortical dysplasia (FCD). West syndrome was the most common epilepsy syndrome. Favorable seizure outcomes at the 5-year follow-up in the medication, resection surgery, and palliative surgery groups were 5.22%, 77.30%, and 14.14%, respectively. The patients showed varying degrees of improvement in terms of developmental and intellectual outcomes post-treatment. Conclusions: Pediatric patients with DRE were characterized by frequent seizures, a variety of seizure types, and complex etiology. Recurrent seizures severely affected the cognitive function and development of children. Early surgical intervention would be beneficial for seizure control and prevention of mental retardation. Palliative surgery was also a reasonable option for patients who were not suitable candidates for resection surgery.

Repeat surgery for pediatric epilepsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of resection and disconnection approaches

OBJECTIVE

Resection and disconnection surgeries for epilepsy in the pediatric demographic (patients ≤ 18 years of age) are two separate, definitive intervention options in medically refractory cases. Questions remain regarding the role of surgery when seizures persist after an initial incomplete surgery. The aim of this study was to review the contemporary literature and summarize the metadata on the outcomes of repeat surgery in this specific demographic.

METHODS

Searches of seven electronic databases from inception to July 2022 were conducted using PRISMA guidelines. Articles were screened using prespecified criteria. Metadata from the articles were abstracted and pooled by random-effects meta-analysis of proportions.

RESULTS

Eleven studies describing 12 cohorts satisfied all criteria, reporting outcomes of 170 pediatric patients with epilepsy who underwent repeat resection or disconnection surgery. Of these patients, 55% were male, and across all studies, median ages at initial and repeat surgeries were 7.2 and 9.4 years, respectively. The median follow-up duration after repeat surgery was 47.7 months. The most commonly reported etiology for epilepsy was cortical dysplasia. Overall, the estimated incidence of complete seizure freedom (Engel class I) following repeat surgery was 48% (95% CI 40%-56%, p value for heterogeneity = 0.93), and the estimated incidence of postoperative complications following repeat surgery was 25% (95% CI 12%-39%, p = 0.04). There were six cohorts each that described outcomes for repeat resection and repeat disconnection surgeries. There was no statistical difference between these two subgroups with respect to estimated incidence of complete seizure freedom (p value for interaction = 0.92), but postoperative complications were statistically more common following repeat resection (p ≤ 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

For both resection and disconnection surgeries, repeat epilepsy surgery in children is likely to confer complete seizure freedom in approximately half of the patients who experience unsuccessful initial incomplete epilepsy surgery. More data are needed to elucidate the impact on efficacy based on surgical approach selection. Judicious discussion and planning between the patient, family, and a multidisciplinary team of epilepsy specialists is recommended to optimize expectations and outcomes in this setting.

Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery: Indications and Evaluation

Epilepsy is a common neurological condition in children. It is usually amenable to drug therapy. However, nearly one-third of patients may be refractory to antiseizure drugs. Poor compliance and nonepileptic events should be ruled out as possible causes of drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). After failing adequate trials of two appropriate antiseizure drugs, patients with focal DRE or poorly classifiable epilepsy or epileptic encephalopathy with focal electro-clinical features should be worked up for surgical candidacy. A randomized controlled trial provided a class I evidence for epilepsy surgery in pediatric DRE. Pre-surgical screening workup typically includes a high-resolution epilepsy protocol brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a high-quality in-patient video electroencephalography evaluation. Advanced investigations such as positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and magnetoencephalography (MEG) may be required in selected cases especially when brain MRI is normal, and further evidence for anatomo-electro-clinical concordance is necessary to refine candidacy for surgery and surgical strategy. Some children may also need functional MRI to map eloquent regions of interest such as motor, sensory, and language functions to avoid unacceptable neurological deficits after surgery. Selected children may need invasive long-term electroencephalographic monitoring using stereotactically implanted intracranial depth electrodes or subdural grids. Surgical options include resective surgeries (lesionectomy, lobectomy, multilobar resections) and disconnective surgeries (corpus callosotomy, etc.) with the potential to obtain seizure freedom. Other surgical procedures, typically considered to be palliative are neuromodulation [deep brain stimulation (DBS), vagal nerve stimulation (VNS), and responsive neural stimulation (RNS)]. DBS and RNS are currently not approved in children. Pediatric DRE should be evaluated early considering the risk of epileptic encephalopathy and negative impact on cognition.

The cognitive costs, contraindications and complications of epilepsy surgery in adults

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Access to epilepsy surgery is rapidly growing throughout the world. While it is an established and effective treatment for seizures, epilepsy surgery has the potential to exacerbate cognitive comorbidities of the condition.

RECENT FINDINGS

Not all surgical patients experience a postoperative decline in cognitive function. Postoperative cognitive function depends upon the functional integrity of the tissue to be removed and the functional reserve of the structures that remain in situ. While developments in surgical technique can reduce the cognitive morbidity of epilepsy surgery, the same procedure may result in different cognitive outcomes for different candidates, depending on their preoperative characteristics and postoperative trajectories. Multivariate models can be used to identify those most at risk of cognitive decline. There remains a significant lack of research into clinical interventions aimed at reducing the impact of surgically induced cognitive deficits on the lives of the patients who experience them.

SUMMARY

Accurate identification of the cognitive risks associated with surgery, based on an individual's personal risk profile rather than the generic risks associated with the procedure, is now recognized as a mandatory part of the preoperative evaluation and is one of the pillars of informed consent for the procedure.