Epilepsy surgery: indications, approaches, and results.

The surgical treatment of epilepsy is divided into procedures with curative or palliative goals. Curative procedures are highly effective in rendering the majority of patients seizure free, and palliative procedures often result in marked improvement in seizure frequency, quality of life, or both. This brief overview of epilepsy surgery outlines the goals of surgery, criteria used to determine patient eligibility, the various types of epilepsy surgery, and anticipated outcomes of these approaches. Newer surgical techniques including vagus nerve and deep brain stimulation and gamma knife radiosurgery are also discussed.