Who performs pediatric epilepsy surgery?
The actual surgery is performed by a neurosurgeon with specialized training and experience in pediatric epilepsy surgery. However, prior to the surgery the patient must be evaluated by a team of epileptologists, neuroradiologists, neuropsychologists, and neurosurgeons with specialized training in patients with refractory epilepsy. Most of these teams are in large academic medical centers with affiliations to medical schools. The team will tailor the surgery for each child on an individual basis. What are the types of epilepsy surgery? The following are the surgical interventions that are performed to control epileptic disorders. These procedures can be done directly on the brain, (resective surgery or corpus callosotomy), or by implanting a stimulator of the vagus nerve in the neck (vagal nerve stimulation). • In resective surgery the part of the brain that causes the seizures is removed. • In corpus callosotomy the major connection between the two sides of the brain is severed (cut).
