Strategies for surgical treatment of epilepsies in developing countries.

Publication/Presentation Date

3-1-2008

Abstract

Epilepsy surgery has been proved to be efficacious, safe and cost-effective in developing countries. However, the success of epilepsy surgery depends on selecting suitable candidates based on the available resources and technologies. Some of the challenges to provide appropriate surgical treatment for epilepsy patients in developing countries include providing human and technological resources and developing realistic presurgical protocols. Detection of ideal candidates for epilepsy surgery is possible for well-trained epileptologists with the help of basic investigative technologies, for example, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). Patients with potentially epileptogenic, well-circumscribed lesions on MRI and patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) are reasonable candidates for surgery. Palliative epilepsy surgeries include corpus callosotomy and other disconnections. These operations are feasible in developing countries with a knowledgeable team consisting of an epileptologist, neurosurgeon and technicians and with using MRI and EEG as basic investigative technologies.

Volume

49

Issue

3

First Page

381

Last Page

385

ISSN

0013-9580

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

17941843

Department(s)

Department of Medicine

Document Type

Article

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