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Guideline for Epilepsy Surgery Specimens

Committee issues SOPs for inspection, distribution, and processing

Publish date:: February 9, 2016

The Task Force of Neuropathology from the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) Commission on Diagnostic Methods developed standardized protocols for neuropathologic workup of epilepsy surgery specimens, including standard operational procedure for tissue inspection, distribution, and processing. Their recommendation includes:

Whenever feasible, anatomically intact surgical specimens are desirable to enable systematic analysis in selective hippocampectomies, temporal lobe resections, and lesional or nonlesional neocortical samples.
Correct orientation of sample and the sample's relation to neurophysiologically aberrant sites requires good communication between pathology and neurosurgical teams.
Systematic tissue sampling of 5-mm slabs along a defined anatomic axis and application of a limited immunohistochemical panel will ensure a reliable differential diagnosis of main pathologies encountered in epilepsy surgery.

Citation:

Blümcke I, Aronica E, Miyata H, et al. International recommendation for a comprehensive neuropathologic workup of epilepsy surgery brain tissue: A consensus Task Force report from the ILAE Commission on Diagnostic Methods. [Published online ahead of print February 3, 2016]. Epilepsia. doi: 10.1111/epi.13319.

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Guideline for Epilepsy Surgery Specimens, Committee issues SOPs for inspection, distribution, and processing