Treatments

Generalized Epilepsy

Because these seizures are generalized and do not have a single initiation point, they cannot be cured with surgery, but still may be improved with surgery, such as vagal nerve stimulation and corpus callosotomy. Most patients, particularly those with idiopathic generalized seizures, respond well to anticonvulsant medication.

Partial (or Focal) Epilepsy

Close to 50% of patients with partial epilepsy are not completely controlled by medication. Many are amenable to surgery because the source of the seizures can be identified and safely removed. Often defined by their point of origin, partial epilepsy includes frontal lobe epilepsy, occipital lobe epilepsy, mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, and parietal lobe epilepsy.