Purpose: Psychiatric comorbidity in patients with resistant epilepsy is very common and often develop post-surgical psychiatric disorders. Impulsivity may be present and deepen the disorder’s severity. We analyze the post-surgical evolution and degree of impulsivity in these patients.
Method: We included patients operated and assessed with a neurological, neuropsychological, psychiatric assessments, vEEG, MRI. One year after surgery, Barratt Impulsivity Scale was administered to the patients’ follow-up. Student’s t-test and chi-square were performed.
Result: 38 patients were included (21 women). 24 patients (63%) presented pre-surgical psychiatric disorders, either current or past. A pre-surgical psychiatric diagnosis was associated with the development of post-surgical psychiatric disorders. Lower GAF scores were correlated with higher impulsivity scores. A post-surgical diagnosis was associated with higher motor and total impulsivity scores. The evolution of postsurgical epileptic seizures, according to the Engel classification: Engel I (58%), II (21%), III, IV (21%). Worse postsurgical outcomes were associated with higher nonplanning impulsivity score.
Conclusions: Post-surgical psychiatric comorbidities are more frequent in epileptic patients with a psychiatric history, being depression the most frequently diagnosed. Additionally, de novo postsurgical psychiatric disorders are infrequent. Nonplanning is strongly correlated with seizure outcome following surgery.