Determinants of the Pattern of Emergence From Anesthesia in Patients Undergoing Anterior Temporal Lobectomy and Amygdalohippocampectomy

Epilepsy surgery involves resecting epileptogenic tissues including limbic structures which may be functionally normal. Hence the emergence process can be complicated in patients having diseased limbic structures or those having therapeutic removal of limbic structures as in epilepsy surgery. Limbic structures are responsible for memory, language and executive function and hence loss of some of these higher functions is to be expected in the postoperative period. Preoperative neuropsychological assessments are often used to predict their risk for postoperative loss of higher functions and behavior changes. In our experience the investigators have seen that there is a spectrum of emergence characteristics in patients undergoing temporal lobectomy that can vary from dangerously agitated patient to much sedated, unarousable patient. Delirium and agitation can be dangerous and have serious consequences for the patient such as injury, increased pain, hemorrhage, self-extubation and removal of catheters requiring physical or chemical restraint. On the other hand the unarousable patient may pose dangerous airway complications and limit neurological assessment in the immediate postoperative period. Hence it is essential to have a clue about post anesthesia emergence behavior in patients having epilepsy surgeries. The aim of this study is to look at the pattern of emergence from anesthesia after epilepsy surgery and to determine if preoperative neuropsychological assessment help predict the pattern of emergence in patients undergoing anterior temporal lobectomy and amygdalohippocampectomy.