Reader Response: Comparison of Hemispheric Surgery Techniques for Pediatric Drug-Resistant Epilepsy: An Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis

Abstract

We read with interest the individual-patient data meta-analysis by Chen et al.1 who suggested that vertical hemispherotomy confers higher long-term seizure freedom rates compared with lateral hemispherotomy, with similar complication rates. We acknowledge the methodological advances compared with a previous post hoc study2 because current findings were derived from a balanced sample using propensity score matching and controlling for potentially predictive variables.3 However, we consider this hemispherotomy technique unresolved and question the proposed superiority of vertical approaches.