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}