Epilepsy is a condition that causes recurring seizures. These seizures can result in a variety of injuries, including broken bones from falling during the seizure, and death from drowning if swimming when a seizure occurs. A variety of medications exist to treat this condition, and there are also surgical options that can reduce or completely eliminate epileptic seizures.
Lobectomy
A lobectomy is the most common form of epilepsy surgery, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. This procedure removes the area of the brain producing the seizures, and is only effective for patients who suffer from partial seizures that begin in one particular area of the brain.
Approximately 30 percent of persons with partial epilepsy are unable to gain control over their seizures and could benefit from a lobectomy. During the procedure, all or part of the right or left lobe may be removed surgically. The Epilepsy Foundation states that these areas are the most common sites where both simple and complex partial seizures to occur.
Multiple Sub-pial Transection
Sometimes the area of seizure activity lies in an area vital to the brain, and it cannot be removed. In this case, the doctor makes a series of incisions to isolate that area of the brain. As the Epilepsy Foundation explains, these incisions are made into nerve pathways; this prevents seizure activity from moving into other areas of the brain. The Mayo Clinic states that 70 percent of people who have this surgery report an improvement in seizure activity.
Hemispherectomy
This procedure removes half of the brain's outer layer, known as the cortex, according to JFK Medical Center. The Mayo Clinic explains this is the most radical type of epilepsy surgery, and is usually done for children whose condition is not responding to medication. While the half of the brain that has been removed fills with fluid, a child is able to still function normally because the remaining half takes over the functions of the half that was taken.
This surgery is done on children who have Rasmussen's encephalitis, a rare disease affecting one hemisphere of the brain. It may also be done for children born with excessive damage to one side of the brain, such as bleeding in the brain before birth. JFK Medical Center states that children typically have their seizures reduced or eliminated.
