[The comparison of ketamine with methohexital and thiopental in the intraoperative EEG in drug-resistant epilepsy].

UNLABELLED: The acute (ECoG) was examined in 291 patients with intractable epilepsy, without structural brain lesion--from 1971 to 1997. Temporal lobectomy was performed in 198 cases and extratemporal (frontal, parietal or occipital) in remaining 93 cases to achieve seizure control. Epileptic foci was activated during acute ECoG by i.v. administration of ketamine (154 cases) or short-acting barbiturates--methohexital (110 cases) and thiopental (27 cases).

RESULTS

Ketamine significantly more often caused ECoG identified electrographic seizures than methohexital: p = 0, 00001 or thiopental, which in no cases resulted in seizures. Also electrographic seizures occurred more frequently after administration of ketamine in patients with the extratemporal seizure focus localisation in comparison with temporal focus (p < 0.05). Electrographic seizures provoked after administration of ketamine improved the localisation of the area to be resected, more often in extratemporal epileptic foci.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of our investigations indicate that ketamine more effectively activated epileptic focus than short-acting barbiturates.