Parental satisfaction and seizure outcome after corpus callosotomy in patients with infantile or early childhood onset epilepsy

Abstract

Purpose: To elucidate the benefit of corpus callosotmy in terms of parental satisfaction and seizure outcome.

Method: This study included 16 consecutive patients with infantile or early childhood onset epilepsy who underwent total corpus callosotomy for alleviation of seizures. Questionnaires were sent anonymously to the parents asking about relative changes in seizures and about parental satisfaction for the post-operative outcome.

Results: The improvements in frequency, intensity, and duration of seizures were correlated with the level of satisfaction (Spearman's rank-order correlation coefficient, ρ=0.87, 0.93, and 0.75, respectively). The highest level of satisfaction was only seen in patients who achieved freedom from all seizures or drop attacks.

Conclusion: Complete seizure freedom and freedom from drop attacks are important goals of corpus callosotomy for parental satisfaction. These factors should be considered in assessing post-operative outcome after corpus callosotomy.