Assessment of surgical outcome
Lesser, R.P.; Fisher, R.S.; Uematsu, S.
Epilepsy Research. Suppl 5: 217-229
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0922-9833 PMID: 1418453 Document Number: 395714
Evaluation of outcome of epilepsy surgery is complex because of several factors. Epilepsy is itself a heterogeneous disorder. Different epilepsy centers encounter different referral mixes of patients. Institutions employ various methods for pre-operative evaluation and widely varying surgical techniques. Clear definitions of surgical success and reliable scales for its measurement are lacking. Few data are acquired prospectively and maintained in a format allowing inter-institutional collation of results. A better representation of surgical outcome could in the future be served by adherence to 4 principles: collection of common data in standard formats; comparison of like, rather than disparate, populations; maintenance of quantitative data in raw form; and measurement of outcome along several dimensions or scales. Psychosocial issues have been underemphasized in most prior analyses of outcome.