Background: Hippocampal sclerosis (HS) may be associated with focal cortical dysplasia IIIa (FCD IIIa) in patients undergoing surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).
Objective: To investigate whether the anatomo-electro-clinical profile and surgical outcome in patients with HS-related TLE are affected by coexisting FCD IIIa.
Methods: A total of 220 patients, operated in 5 centers, with at least 24 mo follow-up (FU), were retrospectively studied. Preliminary univariate and subsequent multivariate analyses were performed to investigate possible associations between several potential presurgical, surgical, and postsurgical predictors and different variables (Engel's class I and Engel's class Ia, co-occurrence of FCD IIIa).
Results: At last available postoperative control (FU: range 24-95 mo, median 47 mo), 182 (82.7%) patients were classified as Engel's class I and 142 (64.5%) as Engel's class Ia. At multivariate analysis, extension of neocortical resection and postoperative electroencephalogram were significantly associated with Engel's class I, whereas length of FU had a significant impact on class Ia in the whole cohort and in isolated HS (iHS) patients, but not in the FCD IIIa group. No differences emerged in the anatomo-electro-clinical profile and surgical results between patients with FCD IIIa and with iHS.
Conclusion: Coexistence of FCD IIIa did not confer a distinct anatomo-electro-clinical profile to patients with HS-related epilepsy. Postoperative seizure outcome was similar in FCD IIIa and iHS cases. These findings indicate limited clinical relevance of FCD IIIa in HS-related epilepsy and might be useful for refining future FCD classifications. Further studies are needed to clarify the correlation of class Ia outcome with the duration of FU.
Keywords: Drug-resistant epilepsy; Epilepsy surgery; Focal cortical dysplasia; Hippocampal sclerosis; Seizure outcome; Temporal lobe epilepsy; Temporal lobectomy.
Copyright © 2020 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.