To determine if age at surgery, gender, or the presence of a lesion on MRI are associated with better outcomes in our institution, as determined by the recorded Engel Outcome Classification 2 years post-surgery.

45 pediatric patients with refractory epilepsy who were operated from 2016-2021 at a single epilepsy center were dichotomized to good outcome (Engel I, II, III) and poor outcome (Engel IV). Fisher's exact test was used to determine the relationship between outcomes and age at surgery, gender, or a lesional pre-surgical MRI.

40/45 had  Engel I, II, III and 5 had Engel IV. 14 were less than 9 years old (2-20 years; M/SD= 12.36/5.25), 21 males, 36 had lesions identified on MRI. There was no statistically significant difference in age between good and poor outcomes (t=-1.20, p=.236). Using an alpha level of .05, there was no significant association between outcome and age (p=1.00) or gender (p=.652). However the relationship between a lesional pre-surgical MRI and outcome was statistically significant (p=.04) and yielded a moderate effect size (Cramer's V= .354).Thus, a lesional MRI and a good outcome were not independent of each other. This supports the general concept that identification of lesions are associated with better outcomes.