Epilepsy: Anterior Temporal Lobectomy

Topic Overview

Anterior temporal lobectomy is the removal of part of one of the brain's temporal lobes. It is the most common type of surgery for epilepsy .

This type of surgery is used to treat people with temporal lobe epilepsy when medicines fail to control seizures . Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common type of epilepsy in adults. It usually causes complex partial seizures that start in the temporal lobe.

For a person who has seizures that do not get better with medicines, surgery may be a good option. It may help control epilepsy better than if the person were to keep trying the medicines. ^{footnote 1}