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ILAE survey of neuropsychology practice in pediatric epilepsy surgery evaluation
Author(s) -
Berl Madison M.,
Smith Mary Lou,
Bulteau Christine
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
epileptic disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.673
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1950-6945
pISSN - 1294-9361
DOI - 10.1684/epd.2017.0908
Subject(s) - neuropsychology , demographics , consistency (knowledge bases) , pediatric epilepsy , medicine , epilepsy , epilepsy surgery , psychology , family medicine , psychiatry , cognition , demography , geometry , mathematics , sociology
Aims . To determine the extent to which specific neuropsychological measures are in common use around the world for the assessment of children who are candidates for epilepsy surgery. Materials and methods . As part of the work of the International League Against Epilepsy Pediatric Surgical Task Force, a survey was developed and distributed online. The survey consisted of questions related to demographics, training experience, general practice, and specific measures used and at what frequency. Results . Seventy‐eight clinicians with an average of 13.5 years of experience from 19 countries responded to the survey; 69% were English‐speaking. Pre‐ and post‐neuropsychological evaluations were conducted with a majority of children undergoing surgical resection for epilepsy. There was high consistency (>90%) among the domains evaluated, while consistency rate among specific measures was more variable (range: 0–100%). Consistency rates were also lower among respondents in non‐English‐speaking countries. For English‐speaking respondents, at least one measure within each domain was used by a majority (>75%) of clinicians; 19 specific measures met this criterion. Conclusion . There is consensus of measures used in neuropsychological studies of pediatric epilepsy patients which provides a basis for determining which measures to include in establishing a collaborative data repository to study surgical outcomes of pediatric epilepsy. Challenges include selecting measures that promote collaboration with centers in non‐English‐speaking countries and providing data from children under age 5.