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Epilepsy Surgery Options

Medications that are prescribed to treat epilepsy do not work for all patients. Patients who don't respond to medication may be good candidates for surgery. Your doctor will help you decide if surgery is an appropriate treatment option for you. There are several types of surgery commonly performed to treat epilepsy:

• Temporal lobectomy is the most common surgery used to control seizure. In this procedure, neurosurgeons remove the area of the brain that produces seizures.
• Split brain surgery is a procedure used for patients whose seizures are caused by multiple places in the brain. In this surgery, neurosurgeons cut the tissue that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. This prevents seizures from spreading to both sides of the brain and reduces the number seizures.

Your doctor will only recommend surgery if there is little or no risk of damage to areas of the brain that control speech, sight or memory.

You may be a good candidate for surgery if you have:

• Documented epileptic seizures
• Tried several medication that did not work to control your seizures or have had bad reactions to medication
• Seizures that always begin in just one part of the brain