If after trying at least two different anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) and other treatments, such as diet, your seizures still are not under control, surgery may be considered as a treatment option. The purpose of surgery is to improve your quality of life.
Surgery can be offered to both adults and children. There are two main types of surgery:
1. Resection, removing the part of the brain where seizures start
- Temporal lobectomy – Your surgeon will cut away brain tissue in the temporal lobes that has been causing seizures
- Extratemporal resection – Your surgeon will cut away brain tissue in other parts of the brain that has been causing seizures
- Lesionectomy – Your surgeon will remove any tumours, abscesses or other types of damage that have been causing seizures
2. If resection surgery isn’t possible, a type of surgery where one part of the brain is disconnected from another part may be offered:
- Hemispherectomy – Your surgeon will remove the outer layer of one half of your brain
- Corpus callosotomy – Your surgeon will cut the connections between the two sides of the brain, stopping seizures spreading from one side to the other
- Multiple subpial transection – Your surgeon will cut the nerve fibers in the outer layers of the brain. This stops the seizure activity spreading.