Types of Epilepsy Surgery

Focal Resection – if your seizure is coming from a small single area of the brain, which can be safely removed, focal resection may be performed to significantly reduce the seizure frequency and severity.

Corpus Callosotomy– It is a surgical procedure that disconnects the anterior cerebral hemisphere in order to prevent the seizure from spreading.

Device Therapy – Neurostimulators

Vagal Nerve Stimulator (VNS) –It is a FDA approved adjunctive treatment for certain types of intractable epilepsy. It is designed to prevent seizures by sending regular, mild pulses of electrical energy to the brain via the vagus nerve in the neck. A device similar to a pacemaker supplies these pulses.

Responsive Neurostimulator (RNS) System – The RNS® System continuously monitors electrical activity in the brain, detects patient-specific patterns, and delivers brief pulses of stimulation when it detects activity that could lead to a seizure. The stimulation can help to prevent the seizure before it happens. The UNC Epilepsy Center was the first comprehensive epilepsy center in North Carolina to offer this FDA-approved treatment option to patients.

Other investigational therapies – There are some other investigational neurostimulation therapies but currently not available, such as deep brain stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation.