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Risk factors for early post‐operative psychiatric symptoms in patients undergoing epilepsy surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy
Author(s) -
Moss K.,
O’Driscoll K.,
Eldridge P.,
Varma T.,
Wieshmann U. C.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2008.01149.x
Subject(s) - epilepsy , hippocampal sclerosis , temporal lobe , anxiety , mood , depression (economics) , psychiatry , anterior temporal lobectomy , medicine , epilepsy surgery , surgery , pediatrics , economics , macroeconomics
Objective – De‐novo psychiatric symptoms may develop within 3 months after a temporal lobectomy for epilepsy. The objective of this study was to identify presurgical risk factors for psychiatric symptoms. Methods – Twenty‐seven patients who had a temporal lobectomy for epilepsy were included. Twenty‐four had hippocampal sclerosis or gliosis, and three had cavernous haemagiomata. Twelve had operations on the left, and 15 on the right side. Twenty‐four patients were rendered free of seizures (SZ) with loss of awareness, three had early post‐operative convulsions, one continued to have habitual SZ. Results – Nine patients (33%) developed low mood, anxiety and emotional lability within 3 months after surgery. Patients with early post‐operative psychiatric symptoms were younger (27.9/34.8 years, P = 0.01), and more anxious on the presurgical Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (12/8.44, P = 0.02) than patients without post‐operative psychiatric symptoms. There was also an association between right temporal lobectomies and early post‐surgical symptoms ( P = 0.02 Fisher’s exact test). Conclusion – Potential risk factors were age, anxiety and operation on the right side. Larger studies are required to determine if these risk factors are independent.