Visual Field Defects After Radiosurgery for Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Drs. Hensley-Judge and an international group of investigators published results in the early view issue of the journal Epilepsia looking at visual field defects after gamma knife radiosurgery in patients who have been treated for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy as part of a large prospective research trial.

Of 24 patients studied, 15 had postoperative visual field defects that were expected. None of these defects were consistent with injuries to the optic nerve or the crossover of the optic nerves known as the chiasm.

The authors concluded:

• Visual field defects appeared after radiosurgeries in proportion similar to those for open surgery from mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

• The nature of visual field defects was consistent with lesions of optic radiations.