Abstracts

RATIONALE:Suicide has been reported to occur at a higher rate than expected among patients with epilepsy, particularly patients who have undergone temporal lobectomy for medically intractable epilepsy. METHODS:The entire population treated for epilepsy at the Epi-Care Center over the past twelve years (10,739 patients) was reviewed for the occurrence of suicide. RESULTS:Five patients committed suicide. All had a history of longstanding epilepsy, with very high seizure frequency in all but one. Suicide occurred in all patients after a short interval (3 months to 3 years) of having obtained full control of seizures for the first time, by temporal lobectomy (three patients), medication (one patient), or vagus nerve stimulation (one patient). Three patients had a previous history of suicidality. CONCLUSIONS:Suicide in epilepsy appears to be a risk in a subgroup of patients with longstanding epilepsy who become seizure free. The problem of suicidality in the population observed and as noted in the literature will be discussed.