A follow-up study of surgery in temporal lobe epilepsy

Abstract

An anterior temporal lobectomy was performed on 100 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The patients have been followed post-operatively for periods ranging from two to 10 years. After the second year the therapeutic results seemed constant. Follow-up study showed that 53 patients were rendered free of seizures or almost so, 30 improved at least 50%, and 17 showed little or no improvement. Lesions were found in the resected temporal lobe in a majority of the patients. The study supports the view that an improvement in epilepsy is accompanied by a corresponding improvement in the concomitant psychiatric disorder.