Cognitive outcome after stereotactic amygdalohippocampectomy

PURPOSE We sought to determine the neuropsychological outcome after stereotactic radiofrequency amygdalohippocampectomy performed for intractable mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. METHODS The article describes the cases of 31 patients who were evaluated using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised prior to, and one year after, surgery. KEY FINDINGS Patients showed increases in their mean Full Scale, Verbal and Performance IQ scores of 4, 3 and 4 IQ points respectively (p<.05). 5 (17.2%), 4 (13.8%) and 4 (13.3%) patients improved in their Full-scale, Verbal and Performance IQ respectively. No significant changes were found in memory performance - with a mean increase of 1, 3 and 0 MQ points in Global, Verbal and Visual memory respectively (p<.05). Global memory improved in 3 (10.3%) patients, verbal memory in 1 (3.4%) and 1 patient (3.3%) showed deterioration in visual memory. SIGNIFICANCE Our results provide evidence for unchanged memory in patients with MTLE after the procedure. No verbal memory deterioration was detected in any of our patients, while improvements were found in intellectual performance. The results suggest that stereotactic radiofrequency amygdalahippocampectomy could be superior to open surgery in terms of its neurocognitive outcomes. A larger randomised trial of these approaches is justified.