Surgical treatment of epilepsy: subjective readiness of patients

The intention of the work was to study the subjective indicators of the readiness for neurosurgical treatment of patients with focal pharmacoresistant epilepsy. The study was performed on the basis of Polenov Neurosurgical Institute in 2019–2020.

The study included 53 patients with a verified diagnosis of focal pharmacoresistant epilepsy. Patients were interviewed on a specially designed questionnaire “Subjective readiness for surgical treatment of epilepsy”, including questions: psychology readiness for surgical treatment, the optimal age and age for neurosurgery intervention, according to the patient.

The readiness for surgical treatment of patients with epilepsy in a neurosurgical hospital was 94.3%. Due to the incomplete answers, a quantitative analysis was carried out in 45 patients. The 1st group consisted of 20 patients, the 2nd — 25. The average age in the cohort was 30.96 + 1.07 years. The duration of the disease until surgical treatment or the resolution of the issue of surgical treatment was 19.26 + 1.35 years. The duration of the disease and the optimal age for the operation, according to patients, differed from the age and duration of the disease at the time of stay in the clinic. According to patients, the optimal age of treatment was 18.66 + 1.3 years, and the optimal duration of the disease was 6.94 + 1.02 years, which is 2.8 times less than the actual experience of epilepsy.

The duration of the disease before hospitalization to a neurosurgical hospital is a manageable indicator. Our study demonstrated that patients are psychologically ready for surgical treatment long before the actual terms of the operation. It is necessary to raise the awareness of patients and primary care doctors about the possibilities and principles of the surgical treatment of epilepsy.

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