Comparison with other low-grade brain tumors

Method: F o rty-two patients with low-grade brain tumor and re f r a c t o ry epilepsy were studied. The mean age was 22.3 years. They were divided into two groups: Group A, patients with ganglioglioma (n=19) and group B, patients with other low-grade tumors (n=23) (14 astrocytoma, 6 oligodend roglioma, 2 dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor, and 1 xanthoastro c y t o m a ) . Results: Age at seizure ’s onset was 7 years or less in 73% of the patients in group A and in 30.4% of the patients in group B (p=0.045). Complex partial occurred frequently in group A and B (94.7% versus 82%, respectively). Seizure ’s fre q u e ncy was higher in group B (p=0.002).Computerized tomography (CT) was normal in 36.8% of group A patients and abnormal in all group B patients. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was abnormal in all patients. S u rgical removal was complete in 89.5% of the patients in group A and in 78.2% of the patients in gro u p B . Conclusion: The association of re f r a c t o ry epilepsy and complex partial seizures, at a relatively low freq u e n c y, in young patients potentially normal CT and a MRI hypointense temporal lobe lesion in T1-weighed slices were habitual image findings in ganglioglioma, rather than other low-grade tumor.