Corpus callosotomy for the treatment of intractable epilepsy in children

We report the results of anterior two-thirds corpus callosotomies in 20 children undergoing the procedure for intractable seizures. All children recovered from the callosotomy without significant neurological sequelae. Excellent results with regard to seizure frequency were found in 8 of 20 (40%) patients. Following surgery, generalized tonic-clonic seizures, tonic seizures, and atonic seizures were reduced from their preoperative frequency. Although all patients in the postoperative period continued on antiepileptic drugs, there was a significant reduction in the number of drugs used. There was no statistically significant relationship between outcome and age of onset of the seizures, presence or absence of mental retardation, computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging findings, presence of hemiplegia, and preoperative EEG abnormalities. Although anterior two-thirds corpus callosotomy may be valuable in reducing seizure frequency in some children, it is currently not possible to predict accurately which children will benefit from the procedure.