Poor mood and quality of life is common among patients with medically intractable seizures. Many of these patients are not candidates for seizure focus resection and continue to receive standard medical care. Responsive neurostimulation (RNS) has been an effective approach to reduce seizure frequency for nonsurgical candidates. Previous research using RNS clinical trial participants has demonstrated improved mood and quality of life when patients received RNS-implantation earlier in their medically resistant epilepsy work-up (Loring et al., 2021). We aimed to describe the level of depression and quality of life in adults with medical resistant epilepsy, treated with RNS, presenting to an outpatient clinic.

This pilot study was conducted among 11 adult epilepsy patients treated with RNS at the epilepsy specialty clinic at Baylor College of Medicine. Ages of participants ranged from 18-56 (M=32.01, SD=12.37) with a mean education of 12.43 (SD=0.85). The majority of the participants identified as White (White=72.2%; Hispanic/Latino/a=14.3%, Other=7.1%). We also present pre- and post-RNS preliminary results of a subset of 4 patients for whom pre and post implantation data was available. Depression symptoms were assessed through the Beck Depression Inventory, 2nd Edition (BDI-II) and quality of life was determined using the Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QoLiE-31).

Patients reported minimal symptoms of depression (M=5.45, SD=4.03) and good overall quality of life (M=71.18, SD=14.83) after RNS. Participants’ scores on their overall quality of life ranged from 50 to 95 (100=better quality of life). The QoLiE-31 showed high scores on emotional wellbeing (M=69.45, SD=14.56) and cognitive functioning (M=65.36, SD=16.66) domains. Post-hoc analysis revealed a significant difference in the cognitive functioning domain of QoLiE-31 before (M=44.75, SD=12.58) and after (M=51.0, SD=11.58) RNS implantation(t(3)=-3.78, p=0.016. Additionally, overall QoLiE score approached statistical significance when comparing pre-RNS (M=44.75 SD=9.29) to post-RNS (M=49.75 SD=11.62; t(3)=-2.01, p = 0.069). No significant differences were evident on seizure worry, energy/fatigue, medication effects, and social functioning domains of QoLiE-31 before and after RNS treatment.

These pilot study results suggest low levels of depression with this population post-RNS implantation. Additionally, there is preliminary evidence to suggest improved patient-rated cognitive functioning and overall quality of life. While this is a small study population, the results have important implications for patients with intractable epilepsy, even with those form who surgical resection may not be possible. Future studies with large enough samples to examine moderating and mediating factors to mood and quality of life changes post-RNS will be important.