Factors predicting the outcome following medical treatment of mesial temporal epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

PURPOSE: There is a lack of information from South America regarding factors that predict the clinical outcomes of patients treated medically for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS). This study was conducted to determine which of these factors are the most important.

METHODS

This study included 110 South American patients with MTLE-HS treated with antiepileptic drugs. The factors considered included age, gender, age of epilepsy onset, interval between the lesion and the first seizure, central nervous system infection, traumatic brain injury, perinatal asphyxia, febrile convulsion, history of status epilepticus, types of seizures, site of hippocampal sclerosis (HS), extrahippocampal pathology, and electroencephalogram (EEG) abnormalities. The patients were divided into two groups based on the response to treatment: Group I, seizure free for at least two years; and Group II, not seizure free.

RESULTS

On the multivariate analysis, the factors associated with a poor prognosis in terms of seizure frequency and control following treatment included the presence of an early onset of seizure, more than 10 seizures per month before treatment, and EEG abnormalities.

CONCLUSION

The recognition of risk factors, such as early onset of seizures, more than 10 seizures per month before treatment, and EEG abnormalities, could lead to the identification of risk groups among patients with MTLE-HS and refractory epilepsy, possibly designating these individuals as candidates for early epilepsy surgery.