Arachnoid cysts: does surgery improve epileptic seizures and headaches?

During the period from 1985 to 1992 we treated 43 patients with intracranial arachnoid cysts (ACs). In this retrospective study we assessed the outcome of these patients with regard to non-specific symptoms such as headaches and epileptic seizures. Twelve patients had headaches of obscure origin and a mostly temporal located AC. Six of these 12 underwent surgery. After the operation 4 patients (4/6) had no further headaches, two remained unchanged. The other 6 conservatively treated patients (6/12) had further headaches. Ten of the 43 patients had epileptic seizures. One patient dropped out of the survey. Six of the 9 remaining patients had a temporal AC. Four of these 6 underwent surgery; …