Depression in Intractable Partial Epilepsy Varies by Laterlaity of Focus and Surgery

This study analyzed depression status in patients who underwent surgical treatment for medically intractable partial epilepsy. Clinical depression indexes were completed for 107 American patients prior to & 1 year after surgery. Results indicated that preoperative symptoms of depression, psychiatric visits, & suicide attempts predicted a worsening of symptoms within the first year after epilepsy surgery. Right-sided epilepsy surgery patients had significantly more postsurgical psychiatric morbidity than did left-sided patients. (29 refs) (SC)