Abstract

Evaluation of outcome of epilepsy surgery is complex because of several factors. Epilepsy is itself a heterogeneous disorder. Different epilepsy centers encounter different referral mixes of patients. Institutions employ various methods for pre-operative evaluation and widely varying surgical techniques. Clear definitions of surgical success and reliable scales for its measurement are lacking. Few data are acquired prospectively and maintained in a format allowing inter-institutional collation of results. A better representation of surgical outcome could in the future be served by adherence to 4 principles: collection of common data in standard formats; comparison of like, rather than disparate, populations; maintenance of quantitative data in raw form; and measurement of outcome along several dimensions or scales. Psychosocial issues have been underemphasized in most prior analyses of outcome.

View details for Web of Science ID A1992JY99700027

View details for PubMedID 1418453