Epileptic seizures and survival in early disease of grade 2 gliomas

• Background and purposeThe aims of this study were (i) to determine the correlation between seizure activity and the metabolic rate of the tumour measured by 11Cmethionine PET (MET PET) in patients with grade 2 gliomas, and (ii) to assess the prognostic impact of early seizure manifestations on patient survival.MethodsIn this retrospective review, early seizure manifestations were studied in 101 patients with supratentorial grade 2 gliomas subjected to MET PET as part of the pretreatment tumour investigation. Seizure manifestations as a variable was then used in multivariate survival analyses, together with established prognostic factors for this patient group.ResultsOf all 101 cases, 88 patients had seizures at tumour presentation. Fortyseven were seizure free at the early stage of the disease, whereas 54 had recurrent seizures. Patients with seizures at tumour presentation had a more favourable outcome before and after (P = 0.006) adjustment for conventional prognostic factors. However, for those who continued to have seizures early in the disease, the outcome was worse (P = 0.003). We found no significant correlation between MET PET and the seizure manifestations of the patients.ConclusionThe presence and termination of early seizure manifestations may be favourable prognostic factors in patients with low-grade gliomas. 

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Neurologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Neurology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

11C methionine positron emission tomography

epileptic seizures

low-grade glioma

survival

Neurology

Neurologi

Neurology

Neurologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)