Prevalence of psychologic disorders after surgical treatment of seizures
M. Koch-Weser, D. C. Garron, D. W. Gilley, D. Bergen, T. P. Bleck, F. Morrell, R. Ristanovic and W. W. Whisler Jr
Department of Psychology, Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Ill.
To investigate whether surgical treatment of refractory epilepsy is
associated with increased risk for serious psychopathology, 25 treated
patients were compared with 25 current candidates for surgery matched on
demographic and neuroepileptic characteristics. Diagnoses were made by the
National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. No
differences between groups in lifetime or point prevalence rates were
significant. The rate of psychosis in the postoperative group (8%)
approximated the lower estimates in previous studies. Thus, surgical
treatment of seizures did not increase the risk for psychopathology.
However, patients with temporal lobe electroencephalogram foci or tumor as
the epileptogenic lesion were more likely to have serious disorders than
other patients. Also, anxiety disorders were more prevalent in our patient
groups than in the general population.
