The incidence of postoperative seizures following treatment of postinfectious hydrocephalus in Ugandan Infants: A post hoc comparison of endoscopic treatment vs shunt placement in a randomized controlled trial
Abstract:
Background: There are currently no published data directly comparing postoperative seizure incidence following endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV),with/without choroid plexus cauterization (CPC), to that for ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) placement. OBJECTIVE: To compare postoperative epilepsy incidence for ETV/CPC and VPS in Ugandan infants treated for postinfectious hydrocephalus (PIH).
Methods: We performed an exploratory post hoc analysis of a randomized trial comparing VPS and ETV/CPC in 100 infants (<6 mo old) presenting with PIH. Minimum follow-up was 2 yr. Variables associated with and the incidence of postoperative epilepsy were compared (intention-to-treat) using a bivariate analysis. Time to first seizure was compared using the Kaplan–Meier method, and the relative risk for the 2 treatments was determined using Mantel-Haenszel hazard ratios.
Results: Seizure incidence was not related to age (P = .075), weight (P = .768), sex (P=.151), head circumference(P=.281),time from illness to hydrocephalus onset (P=.973), or hydrocephalus onset to treatment (P = .074). Irritability (P = .027) and vision deficit (P = .04) were preoperative symptoms associated with postoperative seizures. Ten (10%) patients died, and 20 (20%) developed seizures over the follow-up period. Overall seizure incidence was 9.4 per 100 person-years (9.4 and 9.5 for ETV/CPC and VPS, respectively; P =.483), with no significant difference in seizure risk between groups (hazard ratio, 1.02; 95%CI:0.42,2.45; P=.966).Meantimetoseizureonsetwas8.5moforETV/CPCand11.2mo for VPS (P=.464).As-treated, per-protocol, and attributable-intervention analyses yielded similar results.
Conclusion: Postoperative seizure incidence following treatment of PIH was 20% within 2 yr, regardless of treatment modality.
