Prevalence and incidence of epilepsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of international studies

Editors’ Note: In reference to “Practice guideline summary: Use of fMRI in the presurgical evaluation of patients with epilepsy,” Dr. Papanicolaou et al. discuss whether functional MRI (fMRI) evaluation for language dominance in epilepsy surgery can be considered reliable given the high rate of false-positives inherent in fMRI data processing. In support, guideline editors Gloss et al. cite the high concordance between fMRI and amobarbital testing and explain how the method of analysis used in hemispheric language assessment has been shown to be less prone to statistical error. Drs. Zack and Kobau bring up several questions in regards to “Prevalence and incidence of epilepsy: A systematic review and meta-analysis of international studies,” including the exclusion of at least 2 relevant references and the suitability of the statistical methodology chosen. Authors Jette et al. further explain their statistical approach but agree that one reference was omitted. A correction appears on page 642. —Megan Alcauskas, MD, and Robert C. Griggs, MD