Surgical Treatment of Drug-Resistant Generalized Epilepsy

AbstractPurpose of ReviewTo summarize current evidence and recent developments in the surgical treatment of drug-resistant generalized epilepsy.Recent FindingsCurrent surgical treatments of drug-resistant generalized epilepsy include vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), deep brain stimulation (DBS) and corpus callosotomy (CC). Neurostimulation with VNS and/or DBS has been shown to be effective in reducing seizure frequency in patients with generalized epilepsy. DBS for generalized epilepsy is primarily consisted of open-loop stimulation directed at the centromedian (CM) nucleus in the thalamus, though closed-loop stimulation and additional targets are being explored. CC can be effective in treating some seizure types and can be performed using traditional surgical techniques or with the less invasive methods of laser ablation and radiosurgery.SummaryThis current literature supports the use of VNS, DBS and CC, alone or in combination, as palliative treatments of drug-resistant generalized epilepsy.
Source: Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research