Epilepsy Surgery

Epilepsy surgery has been a treatment used to help control seizures for over 100 years! Improvements in modern methods have made epilepsy surgery safer and more available than ever before.

To begin, people with epilepsy need accurate and current information about treatments available to control seizures. It is important to know:

• Recent national survey data suggests that 56% of adults taking seizure medications report having seizures in the past year.
• Studies show that between 30 to 40% of people have drug resistant epilepsy.
• Only 5 to 10% of people with drug resistant epilepsy will achieve complete seizure control with different or more seizure medicines.
• Some types of epilepsy surgery may lead to seizure freedom and an improved quality of life in up to 80% of people with drug resistant epilepsy.

Epilepsy surgery can be overwhelming to consider. Many people are unsure if surgery can help them. Surgery needs to be considered as an option for people whose seizures are not controlled with medications, dietary therapy, or implanted devices.

Factsheet

Download this factsheet to learn about how epilepsy surgery works, when surgery may be recommended, and what types of surgery may help.

• Surgery