Surgical Techniques for the Treatment of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Table 3

Summary of reported temporal lobe surgery complications from selected studies.

Author (year)	Number of patients	Type of surgery (Number of procedures)	Complications (%)
Clusmann et al. (2002)^ϕ [29]	321	ATL (98)	Meningitis (1.5%)
		Transsylvian SAH (138)	Subdural hematoma (0.6%)
		Lesionectomy and AH (27)	Thrombosis (1.2%)
		Lesionectomy/corticectomy (58)	Neurological complications (5.2%)
Rydenhag and Silander (2001) [30]	247	SAH (5)	One mortality (0.4%)
		ATL (168)	Hemiparesis (2%)
		Neocortical resection (74)	Trochlear nerve palsy (0.8%)
			Oculomotor nerve palsy (0.8%)
Acar et al. (2008) [31]	39	Transcortical SAH (39)	Visual field defect (10%)
			Fourth nerve palsy (2.5%)
			Hemiparesis (2.5%)
			Aphasia (2.5%)
			Hemotympanum (7.5%)
			Memory difficulty (5%)
			Frontalis nerve palsy (2.5%)
Jensen (1975)* [32]	858	All temporal lobe resective	Persistent hemiparesis (2.4%)
		surgical procedures (858)	Transient hemiparesis (4.2%)
			Partial hemianopia (46%)
			Complete hemianopia (4%)
			Cranial nerve paresis (3.5%)
			Dysphasia (5%)
			Infection (1.5%)
Olivier (2000) [33]	164	Transcortical SAH (164)	Transient dysphasia (1.8%)
			Wound infection (0.6%)
			Brain swelling (0.6%)
			Subgaleal effusion (0.6%)
			Abscess (0.6%)
			Third-nerve palsy (0.6%)
			Otitis (3.6%)
Sindou et al. (2006) [34]	100	ATL (76)	Motor deficit (2%)
		TTL (18)	Hydrocephalus (2%)
		Transsylvian SAH (6)	Postsurgical hematoma (3%)
			Temporary third cranial nerve
			palsy (5%)
			Bacterial meningitis (3%)
			Pulmonary embolism (1%)

ATL: anterior temporal lobectomy; TTL: total temporal lobectomy; AH: amygdalohippocampectomy; SAH: selective amygdalohippocampectomy.
*This data was taken from a survey covering 2282 temporal lobe surgeries worldwide between the period of 1928 and 1973.
^ϕNo difference in the complications incidence between different surgical techniques was identified in this study.