In a large cohort of patients, researchers analyzed the longitudinal outcomes and predictors of seizure outcomes after frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) surgery, the second most common focal resective surgery for drug-resistant epilepsy. The study sample consisted of 73 consecutive patients who had FLE surgery between January 1997 and May 2015 with a minimum follow-up of 1 year (range 1-16 years). Older age at surgery, longer duration of epilepsy, presence of interictal epileptiform discharges in post-operative EEG on 7th day, 3 months and 1 year were predictors of seizure recurrence on multivariate analysis. Having epilepsy for less than 2 years prior to surgery significantly predicted achieving freedom from seizure in subgroup analysis.
For better outcome in frontal lobe epilepsy, these outcomes support early surgery. A good long-term outcome predictor is still EEG.