Advocacy for Epilepsy Surgery in Africa: Moroccan Experience of 132 Cases.

BACKGROUND: In Africa, epilepsy is a real burden. Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common drug-resistant focal epilepsy disorder, and temporal lobectomy is the most common effective treatment for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. OBJECTIVE: We aim to highlight the Moroccan experience in epilepsy surgery and to ascertain its long-term outcome. Through the results of surgical treatment in our series, we hope to raise awareness of the need for epilepsy surgery in Africa and contribute to its development. METHODS: We present a retrospective study of 132 patients who underwent surgery for epilepsy from January 2005 to December 2021 at our institution. The presurgical evaluation was based on clinical screening, interictal electroencephalography, video-electroencephalography, neuropsychological tests, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography in some cases. Data are presented as the median and ranges. For all analyses, P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Our series includes 132 patients (69 males; 52.27%); the median age at surgery was 24 years (range, 1-64). One hundred and fifteen patients (87%) were operated on for temporal lobe epilepsy, of whom 98 (85%) had anterior temporal lobectomy and 17 (15%) had lesionectomy. Seventeen patients (13%) were operated on for extratemporal epilepsy, of whom 4 had lesionectomy, 7 functional hemispherotomy, and 5 Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery. Our postoperative outcomes 3 months after surgery found 113 patients (85.6%) seizure-free (Engel class I), 16 with Engel class II (12.1%), and 3 with Engel class III (2.3%) in temporal lobe epilepsy. In extratemporal lobe epilepsy, 12 patients (70.5%) showed Engel class I, seizure-free, 4 Engel class II (23.5%), and 1 Engel class III (6%). CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm that most patients with drug-resistant epilepsy may benefit from surgical treatment without submitting to preoperative invasive explorations. This finding should help develop epilepsy surgery widely in Africa.