Advancements in Minimally Invasive Epilepsy Surgery Techniques: Hai Sun, MD, PhD

Author(s):

The associate professor of neurosurgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School talked about minimally invasive techniques and neurostimulation strategies to make epilepsy surgery safer and more effective. [WATCH TIME: 7 minutes]

WATCH TIME: 7 minutes

"With all these new developments, we make epilepsy surgery less invasive and reversible, opening up more opportunities for patients."

Epilepsy affects both patients living with the condition and healthcare systems that provide treatment options for the patients. According to a review published in Archives of Neuropsychiatry, approximately one third of patients live with drug-resistant epilepsy and are also candidates for surgery.¹ Despite this option, only a small number of patients opt for surgery. The reasons behind this include fear of surgery, healthcare disparities, complex presurgical assessment, primary care knowledge gap, and lack of systemic structures between physician and surgical epilepsy centers.

Research shows that surgical treatments are superior to medication management for drug-resistant epilepsy in terms of positive seizure outcomes. In the past years, major advancements in minimally invasive surgeries and neuromodulation techniques have led to reduced concerns about surgery. Both these techniques show promise in improving seizure outcomes and also have the potential to minimize complications.

Hai Sun, MD, PhD, director of the epilepsy surgery service at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, recently sat down with NeurologyLive® in an interview to discuss some minimally invasive techniques used in epilepsy surgery. He also spoke about how neurostimulation works in treating epilepsy as well as the advantages of minimally invasive approaches over traditional open cranial surgery.