Outcome of patients with early postoperative seizures following anterior temporal lobectomy

Retrospective analysis of the records of patients with postoperative seizures immediately following anterior temporal lobectomy was performed to identify variables predictive of outcome. The data indicate that the absence of epileptiform activity on the postoperative scalp EEG is a strong predictor of good outcome. A young age at seizure onset is a weaker, but significant and additive, predictor of good outcome. There is also a trend for patients having early generalized seizures to have better outcomes than those having early complex partial seizures. There is no predictive value in age at operation, sex, or postoperative electro-corticography, nor does outcome in patients with mass lesions differ from patients without mass lesions.