Journal
NEUROSURGERY
Volume 66, Issue 6, Pages 1074-1084Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1227/01.NEU.0000369514.74284.78
Keywords
Awake surgery; Direct electrical stimulation; Functional brain mapping; Low-grade glioma
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BACKGROUND: Awake craniotomy with intraoperative electrical mapping is a reliable method to minimize the risk of permanent deficit during surgery for low-grade glioma located within eloquent areas classically considered inoperable. However, it could be argued that preservation of functional sites might lead to a lesser degree of tumor removal. To the best of our knowledge, the extent of resection has never been directly compared between traditional and awake procedures. OBJECTIVE: We report for the first time a series of patients who underwent 2 consecutive surgeries without and with awake mapping. METHODS: Nine patients underwent surgery for a low-grade glioma in functional sites under general anesthesia in other institutions. The resection was subtotal in 3 cases and partial in 6 cases. There was a postoperative worsening in 3 cases. We performed a second surgery in the awake condition with intraoperative electrostimulation. The resection was performed according to functional boundaries at both the cortical and subcortical levels. RESULTS: Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging showed that the resection was complete in 5 cases and subtotal in 4 cases (no partial removal) and that it was improved in all cases compared with the first surgery (P = .04). There was no permanent neurological worsening. Three patients improved compared with the presurgical status. All patients returned to normal professional and social lives. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate that awake surgery, known to preserve the quality of life in patients with low-grade glioma, is also able to significantly improve the extent of resection for lesions located in functional regions.
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