Identifying the Right Candidate for Epilepsy Surgery: William Gallentine, DO

WATCH TIME: 5 minutes

"One of the things that we’ve gotten really good at is determining the cause of the epilepsy in a majority of our patients. This is through advancements in our neuroimaging techniques, as well as genetic testing, which has allowed us to have to get this level of diagnosis."

Epilepsy, a disorder characterized by seizures, can have a variety of etiologic factors, including genetic and structural causes. While the number of antiseizure medications available to treat epilepsy has increased over the years, there are still a number of patients who struggle to control their seizures. For these individuals, epilepsy surgery may be recommended.

There are several different types of epilepsy surgery, including focal resection, lesionectomy, laser interstitial thermal therapy, corpus callosotomy, stereotactic radiosurgery, and neurostimulation device implantations, among others. As research has evolved, the accuracy and safety of these procedures has become more refined. William Gallentine, DO, interim chief of pediatric neurology at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, believes that these options are great for patients who continue to struggle on antiseizure medications, but that they are most effective when the cause of the epilepsy is understood.

Gallentine, who also serves as a clinical professor of neurology at Stanford, sat down with NeurologyLive® to discuss the state of pediatric epilepsy and some of the progress made in recent years. Additionally, he provided commentary on the process of epilepsy surgery and identifying the right candidate for the right procedure. Furthermore, he expressed why it’s important to share with patients about the numerous options at their disposal and educating them as much as possible.