Epileptic Disorders
MENUSurgery for epilepsy: a systematic review of current evidence Volume 18, issue 2, June 2016
Authors
1 Department of Paediatric Neurology, Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, Manchester,
2 Cochrane Epilepsy Group, Liverpool,
3 Department of Biostatistics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
* Correspondence: Siobhan West,
Department of Paediatric Neurology,
Royal Manchester Children's Hospital,
Hathersage Road,
Manchester, M13 0JH,
United Kingdom
- Key words: focal epilepsy, surgical resection, systematic review
- DOI : 10.1684/epd.2016.0825
- Page(s) : 113-21
- Published in: 2016
This seminar discusses the history and development of techniques for surgical intervention for people with refractory focal epilepsy. Published surgical success rates and prognostic factors associated with post-operative seizure freedom from individual studies have been variable and contradictory. We present here the key findings of a Cochrane systematic review of all evidence published since the introduction of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to pre-operative surgical assessment in 1984. Our findings show the usefulness of uncontrolled case series is now past. Future studies with a prospective controlled design should focus on specific research questions to help improve results and provide better-informed advice.