Epilepsy surgery in bilateral Sturge-Weber syndrome.

Two infants with severe drug refractory focal epilepsy caused by Sturge-Weber syndrome and extensive cerebral leptomeningeal angiomatosis were referred for preoperative video-electroencephalographic evaluation. Brain imaging with computed tomography and gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated bilateral disease in both children with a predominance of involvement of one hemisphere. Clinical examination and neurophysiology with ictal video recording demonstrated epileptogenesis from one hemisphere. Successful surgical treatment with functional hemispherectomy was followed by good long-term seizure control in both patients. The dramatic seizure control was accompanied by markedly improved quality of life for the family and children. These cases indicate that the spectrum of children that may benefit from epilepsy surgery should not be viewed too restrictively, and subsets of children with localization related epilepsy caused by extensive lesions may be resective surgical candidates with a good seizure outcome prognosis.