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MDPI, Brain Sciences, 1(13), p. 73, 2022

DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13010073

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Hemispherotomy in Infants with Hemimegalencephaly: Long-Term Seizure and Developmental Outcome in Early Treated Patients

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Hemimegalencephaly (HME) is a rare brain congenital malformation, consisting in altered neuronal migration and proliferation within one hemisphere, which is responsible for early onset drug-resistant epilepsy. Hemispherotomy is an effective treatment option for patients with HME and drug-resistant epilepsy. Surgical outcome may be variable among different surgical series, and the long-term neuropsychological trajectory has been rarely defined using a standardized neurocognitive test. We report the epileptological and neuropsychological long-term outcomes of four consecutive HME patients, operated on before the age of three years. All patients were seizure-free and drug-free, and the minimum follow-up duration was of five years. Despite the excellent post-surgical seizure outcome, the long-term developmental outcome is quite variable between patients, ranging from mild to severe intellectual disabilities. Patients showed improvement mainly in communication skills, while visuo-perceptive and coordination abilities were more impaired. Epileptological outcome seems to be improved in early treated patients; however, neuropsychological outcome in HME patients may be highly variable despite early surgery.