Open AccessDoes antiepileptic drug withdrawal predispose patients undergoing temporal lobe epilepsy surgery to late onset of psychiatric morbidity? A report of three cases
Author(s) -
Garima Shukla,
Priya Agarwal,
Rajesh Sagar,
Mamta Sood,
Aditya Gupta,
Ashish Suri,
Ajay Garg
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
annals of indian academy of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1998-3549
pISSN - 0972-2327
DOI - 10.4103/0972-2327.186828
Subject(s) - medicine , epilepsy , temporal lobe , psychosis , depression (economics) , psychiatry , anxiety , complication , epilepsy surgery , anterior temporal lobectomy , psychiatric history , temporal lobectomy , surgery , pediatrics , economics , macroeconomics
Surgery is an established and increasingly utilized treatment option in medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. Many psychiatric problems are known to complicate in the postoperative period. Most studies have a follow-up period of less than 24 months. We report the cases of three patients who developed severe psychiatric problems in the late postoperative period after successful temporal lobectomy for refractory epilepsy - Psychosis, major depression with psychosis, and severe anxiety disorder, respectively. None of the patients had past or family history of psychiatric disease. All three patients had undergone anterior temporal lobectomy on the right side for intractable epilepsy. They remained absolutely seizure-free after surgery. We conclude that psychiatric morbidity may arise de novo long after temporal lobectomy. This association between temporal lobectomy for epilepsy and late onset psychiatric morbidity should be carefully studied. Mechanisms underlying this late complication require deeper understanding of the effects of epilepsy surgery.