associated with a specific change of state in
metabolic networks
5
.
Therefore, neuroimaging provides the possibility
of mapping these cytoarchitectonic changes in
patients with a history of focal epilepsy, difficult
to manage with antiepileptic drugs and, therefore,
likely candidates for surgical treatment.
The primary objective of our study is to review the
evidence of the MRI diagnostic method in patients
with TMD operated, comparing with the
subsequent pathological anatomy.
The secondary objective is to establish whether
there is a relationship between the time of epilepsy
prior to surgery and its subsequent prognosis.
Primary objective, to review the evidence of the
MRI diagnostic method in patients with MTS
operated, comparing with later pathological
anatomy.
Secondary Objective, establish if there is a
relationship between epilepsy time prior to surgery
and subsequent ENGEL.
Material and methods
Study design: Retrospective-observational,
multicenter study, patients from January 2007 to
January 2017 belonging to institutions of the
province of Córdoba, CETES Institute, Reina
Fabiola University Clinic, Santísima Trinidad
Children's Hospital and Sanatorium Allende were
included.
Patients with a diagnosis of refractory epilepsy
were included. The definition of the International
League Against Epilepsy was used for the same:
all patients with drug-resistant epilepsy in whom
seizures have not been controlled after adequate
treatment with two tolerated antiepileptic drugs,
appropriately chosen and prescribed (either
monotherapy or in combination), understanding as
a lack of crisis control over a year or suffer in a
time less than three times the interval between
crises that showed before starting treatment.
Likewise, all patients under 15 years of age were
included at the beginning of the study and with a
diagnosis of MTS, which was performed by MRI
1.5T with an epilepsy protocol, informed by the
same neuroadiologist. The report of the presurgical
MRI was compared with the postoperative
pathology anatomy.
To establish the relationship between the time of
epilepsy and postoperative evolution, patients
were recruited with a minimum of one
postoperative year and classified according to the
ENGEL scale, which evaluates the presence of
seizures, the frequency and type of seizures. (Table
No. 2)
We excluded patients who presented different
pathology in temporal lobe (malformation of
cortical development, tumors, vascular
malformations) or intra-surgical complications.
Statistical Analysis: Quantitative variables were
analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U test, meaning
significant at p less than 0.05. R-Medic software
from the Universidad Católica de Córdoba was
used
6
.
Results
The total of the sample was of sixteen patients,
eleven masculine (68%) and five feminine (32%),
with an age range of nine years up to forty-seven
years, with an average at the time of the
intervention of seventeen years and an average of
fourteen years, between the onset of symptoms
until surgery, with a range of three to forty-seven
years. Seven (45%) had a history of febrile
seizures.
According to their postoperative evolution and the
ENGEL scale, ten patients presented classification
IA, one IB, four IIA and one IIB, with a total
remission rate of 62%, which corresponds to
patients with classification IA (Fig. 1).
Fifteen patients (94%) coincided with the MRI
report and pathological anatomy, being a
significant result (p: 0.02), it was not possible to
establish between the years of epilepsy and
postoperative evolution (p: 0.5), as well as patients
with a history of Febrile seizures and subsequent
development of ETM (p: 0.6).)
Discussion
There are currently multiple diagnostic methods in
patients with epilepsy refractory to medication, the
importance lies in the proper use of resources. In
the current work, of the totality of the patients,
94% agree when comparing the MRI report with
the later pathological anatomy, coinciding the
results with the work of Cendes and cols. 4 which
concludes that the SPECT request can play a
fundamental role in the evaluation of patients with
focal epilepsy resistant to drugs together with
previous electroencephalograms to define the
affected area. But by emphasizing the pathology
treated in our work, there is an increase in
sensitivity for MRI, which reduces the request for
other costly studies in the presurgical evaluation.
As in the study by Adry R A and cols.3 where there
is solid evidence that patients diagnosed with MTS
by MRI, there is no evidence of prognostic
importance for subsequent SPECT. In this study, it
also refers to different risk factors that patients
with MTS present to predict postoperative
prognosis. Although our study did not achieve
significant results according to the time of
epilepsy, in the aforementioned study, with 400