Epilepsy surgery for refractory seizures: a systematic review and meta-analysis in different complications

Background Nearly one-third of epilepsy patients are refractory/resistant to medical treatment. Developments made in surgical techniques have significantly increased the effectiveness and safety of these techniques, as such techniques have been demonstrated to improve seizure control/freedom outcomes. Objectives The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the complications of epilepsy surgery. Patient and methods The searches were conducted by three independent researchers to find the relevant studies published from January 1, 2009, until the end of January 6, 2019. For English published statistical studies, all studies conducted on epileptic patients who have undergone epilepsy surgery were included. Statistical analysis A meta-analysis was conducted in the STATA14 statistical software. Results A total of 6735 patients with epilepsy who had undergone the epilepsy surgery were studied. The overall prevalence of complications was 5%. The prevalence of major and minor complications was 5.4% and 3.2% respectively. The prevalence of complications related to the temporal epilepsy surgery and the extra-temporal epilepsy surgery based on 3 studies was 7.9% and 8.2 % respectively. The frequency of neurological and surgical complications after epilepsy surgery was 4.4% and 4.1% respectively. Conclusion The overall rate of complications caused by epilepsy surgery was reasonably low (5%), implying that epilepsy surgery especially temporal lobe resection can be safe preferably when performed by an experienced surgeon.