gms | German Medical Science

57th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery
Joint Meeting with the Japanese Neurosurgical Society

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

11 - 14 May, Essen

Surgical treatment of epileptogenic cavernous angiomas – pure lesionectomy or tailored resection?

Chirurgisches Management epileptogener zerebraler Kavernome – alleinige Kavernom-Exstirpation oder erweiterte, elektrokortikographisch kontrollierte Resektion?

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author W. Kleist-Welch Guerra - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald
  • U. Runge - Klinik für Neurologie, Epilepsiezentrum, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald
  • M.R. Gaab - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Hannover
  • H.W.S. Schroeder - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Japanische Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 57. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e.V. (DGNC), Joint Meeting mit der Japanischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Essen, 11.-14.05.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. DocSA.11.04

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2006/06dgnc151.shtml

Published: May 8, 2006

© 2006 Kleist-Welch Guerra et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

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Objective: The best surgical approach to treat epileptogenic cavernomas is still under controversy. We report on our retrospective series of 31 patients presenting with single or rare seizures in contrast to a medically intractable epilepsy associated with one or more supratentorial cavernomas and the outcome according to surgical treatment.

Methods: Thirty-one patients, 17 female and 14 male, aged 12-70 years (mean 37,39 years) with seizures and supratentorial cavernomas (multiple lesions in 5 patients) had been treated in our department (1993-2004). Frequency, duration and clinical pattern of seizures, cavernoma location, and antiepileptic drug regimen were examined. MRI, interictal scalp EEG, and angiography were performed in all cases. Surgery included lesionectomy alone (n=19), tailored resection including the cavernoma (n=11) and in one case of multiple cavernomas only resection of the inferior and medial temporal gyrus without cavernoma resection. Group A (n=17, 55%) included patients with a low seizure frequency and short seizure history, and these were treated by lesionectomy alone. Group B (n=9, 29%) included patients with medically intractable epilepsy, a high frequency and a long history of seizures. These patients were operated by tailored resection after additional preoperative evaluation (including ictal EEG with video monitoring; SPECT; WADA testing; neuropsychological testing). Five patients (16%) could not be included in any of these groups. Patients were followed for at least 12 months (mean 4,2 years).

Results: According to the criteria defined by ENGEL, 94% of the patients treated with lesionectomy alone (group A) had a favorable outcome (class I-II). All patients with only one seizure before surgery remained seizure free. The group of patients with medically intractable seizures (group B) also presented a favorable outcome in 90%, including one patient with multiple cavernomas, but no corresponding epileptogenic focus with one of the lesions (group C).

Conclusions: Based on our results, it is apparent that lesionectomy alone is sufficient in cases with only a single seizure and a short seizure duration. Patients with medically intractable seizures associated with cerebral cavernomas should be treated by tailored resection.