Pediatric epilepsy surgery from 2000 to 2018: Changes in referral and surgical volumes, patient characteristics, genetic testing, and postsurgical outcomes

Abstract

Children with drug-resistant epilepsy continue to be put forward for surgery late, despite national and international guidelines urging prompt referral. Seizure freedom rates have improved over the past decades, but only after adjustment for a concurrent increase in complex cases. Finally, genetic testing in epilepsy surgery patients has expanded considerably over time and shows promise in identifying patients in whom surgery is less likely to be successful.