Abstracts

Rationale: The goal of this study was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients before and after resective surgery for intractable epilepsy. Methods: Data was collected from 113 patients who underwent surgery (45 left temporal, 51 right temporal and 17 other) at 2 large midwestern medical centers between 1994 and 2007 and who completed pre- and post-surgical neuropsychological evaluations including the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory-31 (QOLIE-31). The QOLIE-31 is a 31 item survey, that comprises 7 subscales and an overall composite score, to measure HRQOL in patients with epilepsy. The average time between evaluations was 7.4 months. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on the occurrence of seizures post-operatively: seizure-free and continuing seizures. Pre- and post-surgical QOLIE-31 scores were analyzed using paired-samples t-tests. Results: Analysis of the QOLIE-31 data from the 113 patients yielded significant improvements in 6 of the 7 subscales and the composite score of the QOLIE-31: cognitive functioning, energy/fatigue, medication effects, seizure worry, social functioning, overall quality of life and the overall composite score (all p values < .03). The emotional well-being subscale did not significantly increase. Significant improvement was seen in all 7 subscales and the overall composite score in patients who remained seizure-free following surgery (n=63). Of the 50 patients who experienced seizures post-operatively, significant improvement was seen in the 4 of the 7 subscales; seizure worry, medication effects, social function and energy/fatigue and also in the overall composite score (p < .01). Cognitive functioning, emotional well-being and the overall quality of life subscales also showed improvement but failed to reach significance.