Minimally invasive surgical approach for intractable seizures

Minimally invasive procedures (multiple subpial transection, topectomy and amyg- dalahippocampotomy) were used to treat 24 patients with intractable seizures. The sei-zure foci were in both hemispheres in 3 patients, all 4 lobes of a hemisphere in I patient. 3 lobes of a hemisphere in 5 patients, 2 lobes of a hemisphere in 11 patients and the tem-poral lobe alone in 4 patients. The longest follow-up is 41 months, with a median of 18 months. Sixteen patients have a follow-up of more than 1 years, with excellent results in 10 (66%) and good in the remaining 6 (38%). There were no permanent complications. These results are encouraging, because the majority of the patients were poor candidates for surgery.