New-onset epilepsy ‘high risk’ after craniotomy, study confirms
The findings suggest many guidelines on prophylactic antiepileptic medication and driving restrictions may need overhaul, the authors say
Patients who undergo craniotomy have significantly higher rates of de novo epilepsy following the surgery compared with the general population, a pivotal new study shows.
The one- and five-year cumulative risk of de novo epilepsy was elevated regardless of indication or craniotomy technique, the Danish researchers say.
Although the postoperative risk of the neurological disorder is “widely believed to be raised”, the Copenhagen University Hospital-led authors said this phenomenon has received scant attention in the literature.
“Guidelines and recommendations regarding these matters are highly variable between countries due to the hitherto scarce investigations of the risk of postoperative de novo epilepsy after a craniotomy,” they wrote.
