Surgery unit for epilepsy

INTRODUCTION: Only few medically refractory epileptic patients are evaluated for surgical treatment, in spite of the good results obtained at the Centers where epilepsy surgery is performed. OBJECTIVE: We are presenting the way the Gregorio Maranon Hospital Epilepsy Surgery Unit functions and their casuistry. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This Unit is composed by members of the Services of Neurosurgery, Neurology, Neurophysiology, Neuroradiology, Psychology, Neuropediatry, Nuclear Medicine and Neuroanestesiology. Patients are studied by means of protocols. RESULTS: Twenty cases were operated upon. The procedures were temporal lobectomy in 9 cases, amygdalo-hipocampectomy in 4, frontal lobectomy in 3, frontal topectomy in 2, partial hemispherectomy in 1 and vagal nerve stimulation in 1. In 16 of the 19 surgery specimen there were some pathological abnormalities. In the short follow-up 13 patients are seizures free experience significant improvement.