Quality of Life and Life Satisfaction in Families After a Child Has Undergone Corpus Callosotomy

Abstract

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological condition which can have a detrimen tal effect on patients' quality of life (QOL). We evaluated the overall satisfaction with QOL and changes in QOL in 25 families with children who had undergone corpus callostomy for severe epilepsy. The mean age of seizure onset was 3.4 years, and the mean period from seizure onset to operation was 5.2 years. Mean follow-up was 19.3 months. Twenty of 22 patients had various degrees of mental retardation. Mean reduction in severity of seizure activity was 64%. Nineteen of 25 (76%) parents were satisfied with the surgical result. Eighteen of 25 parents (72%) described a good level of satisfaction with their families QOL after callostomy. Reduction in severity of seizure activity was significantly correlated with how successful families considered the surgery to be and how satisfied they were with their QOL (r = 0.72 and 0.77, respectively). Life domains showing one greatest improvement after callostomy included level of self-care, family life, and school performance. Improvements in level of self-care, family life, and school performance were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction (r = 0.69, 0.60, and 0.59, respectively). Hyperactivity, attention span, and social skills improved significantly in 11 patients after surgery. Callostomy did not improve mental performance. We conclude that improved seizure control after callostomy is also associated with improved QOL.

Anterior Corpus Callosotomy in Patients with Intractable Generalized Epilepsy and Mental Retardation

“…With regard to QOL and IQ, postoperative improvement was found in patients with RGE and MR, similar to the outcomes of prior series [16,21,26] . These improvements may be a result of disrupted propagation of abnormal electrical activity between the hemispheres.…”

“…Satisfactory seizure control has been achieved in 85% of patients with drop attacks, and 62% of these patients improve daily function [16] . This procedure has been performed in patients with RGE and low IQ, and promising results have been obtained [17,21,22] . Others, however, still argue that MR should be a contraindication of CCT [23,24] .…”

Corpus Callosotomy in Pediatric Intractable Epilepsy: Microsurgical Technique Implication and Variation

“…They reported significant improvement in hyperactivity, attention span, and social skills in 11 patients. (Yang, Wong et al 1996) Similar results were produced by Gilliam and colleagues with improvements in alertness and responsiveness in children and 85% of families were satisfied with the operation. (Gilliam, Wyllie et al 1996) Our results show 64.7% of parents reported improvement in overall daily function and 73.5% of parents show some satisfaction with the surgical result.…”

Cirurgia para epilepsia na infância: avaliação neuropsicológica e de qualidade de vida

“…Quanto à comparação dos escores de QV entre os momentos pré e pós-cirúrgicos do grupo amostral como um todo, ocorreu aumento significativo no escore total, concordando com o trabalho de Yang et al 9 . Houve melhora significativa também nos aspectos sociais (relacionamento social e lazer), ambientais (relacionamento com os pais), efeitos colaterais de medicação e percepção de controle de crises.…”

“…Serve ainda de parâmetro para a avaliação no pós-cirúrgico, verificando a efetividade do procedimento médico realizado, segundo a perspectiva do próprio paciente ou de sua família 2 . Também poucos estudos têm enfocado os resultados específicos de QV em crianças submetidas à cirurgia para epilepsia 4,9,10 . Assim, os objetivos do presente trabalho foram: avaliar e descrever os efeitos da cirurgia para epilepsia em crianças quanto aos aspectos neuropsicoló-gicos e de QV, e relacionar os achados neuropsicoló-gicos e de QV ao quadro clínico do paciente.…”