The value of ictal scalp EEG in focal epilepsies surgery: a retrospective analysis

To describe the association between preoperative ictal scalp electroencephalogram (EEG) results and surgical outcomes in patients with focal epilepsies.

The data of consecutive patients with focal epilepsies who received surgical treatments at our center from January 2012 to December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed.

Our data showed that 44.2% (322/729) of patients had ictal EEG recorded on video EEG monitoring during preoperative evaluation, of which 60.6% (195/322) had a concordant ictal EEG results. No significant difference of surgery outcomes between patients with and without ictal EEG was discovered. Among MRI-negative patients, those with concordant ictal EEG had a significantly better outcome than those without ictal EEG (75.7% vs. 43.8%, p = 0.024). Further logistic regression analysis showed that concordant ictal EEG was an independent predictor for a favorable outcome (OR = 4.430, 95%CI 1.175–16.694, p = 0.028). Among MRI-positive patients, those with extra-temporal lesions and discordant ictal EEG results had a worse outcome compared to those without an ictal EEG result (44.7% vs. 68.8%, p = 0.005). Further logistic regression analysis showed that discordant ictal EEG was an independent predictor of worse outcome (OR = 0.387, 95%CI 0.186–0.807, p = 0.011) in these patients. Furthermore, our data indicated that the number of seizures was not associated with the concordance rates of the ictal EEG, nor the surgical outcomes.

The value of ictal scalp EEG for epilepsy surgery varies widely among patients. A concordant ictal EEG predicts a good surgical outcome in MRI-negative patients, whereas a discordant ictal EEG predicts a poor postoperative outcome in lesional extratemporal lobe epilepsy.