Depression and Anxiety Tied to Refractory Epilepsy Surgery

According to a recent study in Neurology, patients who undergo resective surgery to treat epilepsy often subsequently experience remittance in the symptoms of their comorbid depression and anxiety. The multi-center study followed 360 patients who had undergone surgery to treat refractory epilepsy. The researchers found that the rates of depression and anxiety were nearly halved following surgery. The rate of continued depression in patients on whom the procedure had been successful was also roughly half that of the rate of depression in patients who continued to suffer epilepsy. http://www.neurology.org