Evaluating the epilepsy and oncological outcomes of pediatric brain tumors causing seizures

We read with great interest a single center retrospective cohort study by Wessling et al. titled “Brain tumors in children with refractory seizures—a long-term followup study after epilepsy surgery”. This is a well-written and concise study of the post-surgical oncological, epileptological, and psychosocial follow-up of children with seizures secondary to brain tumors. This single-center cohort study includes 107 patients (aged 1.6–17.7 years), treated between 1988 and 2012, the majority with lowgrade tumors (76.6% WHO I, 19.6% WHO II). Tumor localization was temporal in more than half of the patients, and histopathology included gangliogliomas in 57% of the cases, gliomas in 29%, and dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNET) in 14%. In comparison with other studies of post-surgical seizure outcomes in literature, this cohort consisted of disproportionally more ganglioglioma cases—traditionally considered benign tumors with low rates of oncological recurrence and favorable post-surgical seizure outcomes. Post-operative complications, including a 5.6% chance of permanent new deficits and a 2.8% chance of surgical complications, were comparable to other studies in literature.