Low-dosage radiosurgical treatment for intractable epilepsy following brain injury through positron emission tomography localization / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To treat the patients suffering from intractable epilepsy after brain injury with low-dosage linac accelerator stereotactic radiosurgery through positron emission tomography (PET) localization. Methods PET examination based on 18 F-2-fluorine-2-deglucose (FDG) was carried out in 32 patients in order to localize epileptogenic foci followed by radiosurgery with peripheral radiation dose of 9-13 Gy. The follow-up was conducted over one year. The seizure frequency of epilepsy was recorded to evaluate the therapeutic effect. Results The PET imaging showed that the cortical area around the cerebromalacia caused by primary injury presented low metabolic change. The metabolic changes in different injury areas mainly concentrated in the epileptic foci. In some cases,the low metabolic areas not only was localized at the part of impact lesion but also at the part of contrecoup lesion. The seizure frequency gradually decreased after radiosurgical treatment in most patients,with obvious statistical significance compared with pretreatment. According to Wieser's classification of operative effect,the cases at the grades Ⅰ-Ⅱ accounted for 44% (14/32),grades Ⅲ-Ⅳ for 41% (13/32) and grades Ⅴ-Ⅵ for 16%(5/32). No fresh complications were found in all the cases. Conclusions Low-dosage stereotactic radiosurgery with the PET localization is a safe,effective and minimally invasive surgical approach to intractable posttraumatic epilepsy.