Epilepsy surgery in children with refractory epilepsy, who have poor seizure control with medications, results in better outcomes, according to a study. Better outcomes with surgery include reduced antiepileptic medication use, higher rates of survival, and fewer epilepsy-related emergency department visits, fewer hospitalizations and fewer outpatient visits. The study compared the effectiveness of epilepsy surgery versus medication treatment in this population, and, for the first time, examined the impact on healthcare utilization after two years and five years.
“There is a heightened urgency to achieve seizure freedom in children to prevent developmental arrest or regression, particularly in children under 2 years of age,” says senior author Sandi Lam, MD, MBA, Division Head of Neurosurgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and Professor of Neurological Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Our study demonstrates critical benefits after epilepsy surgery, which underscores that all children with refractory epilepsy should be referred for surgical evaluation without delay.”
An estimated 470,000 children in the United States have epilepsy, and among them, up to 30 percent have seizures that are refractory to medical management. While children with poor seizure control are at increased risk for developmental delay and learning disabilities, less than 1 percent of patients with refractory epilepsy are referred to epilepsy centers for surgical evaluation.
