• Ching-Chang Chen, Mun-Chun Yeap, Zhuo-Hao Liu, Po-Chuan Hsieh, Chun-Ting Chen, Yu-Tse Liu, Ching-Yi Lee, Hong-Yi Lai, Chieh-Tsai Wu, and Po-Hsun Tu.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou Medical Center, Chang Gung Medical College &University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
• World Neurosurg. 2019 May 1; 125: e282-e288.

BackgroundCranioplasty is a relatively simple and straightforward intervention; however, it is associated with a high incidence of postoperative seizures. Postcranioplasty seizures, especially early seizures, are common and associated with poor outcomes and longer hospital stays. Protocols for preventing and managing early seizures have not been well established.MethodsThe medical records of 595 patients who underwent cranioplasty were retrospectively reviewed. Of these patients, 259 had preexisting seizures and 336 had no seizures before cranioplasty. Prophylactic antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were administered to patients who had no seizures before cranioplasty for 1 week, whereas an advanced AED regimen was administered to patients with preexisting seizures. Subsequently, clinical characteristics, occurrence of recurrent seizures, early seizures, and postoperative complications were analyzed.ResultsOur previous study showed positive results for prophylaxis in new-onset early seizures. In the patients with preexisting seizures, 46.7% of the patients (121/259) experienced recurrent seizures after cranioplasty and 17.4% of the patients (45/259) experienced early recurrent seizures within 1 week of their operation. In the group who received the advanced AEDs, early recurrent seizures were significantly reduced to 8.7% compared with the regular group (20.5%; P = 0.027). Younger age and preoperative hydrocephalus engendered a higher risk of recurrent seizures. The number of previous craniotomies was observed to have a trend of increasing early recurrent seizures.ConclusionsCranioplasty is associated with a high incidence of postoperative seizures. Our management protocol for postcranioplasty seizures includes seizure prophylaxis and advanced use of AEDs, which can reduce the occurrence of early seizures.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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