Lara Jehi, MD: Risks of Epilepsy Surgery

“We are faced with a dilemma where if we remove it, then the seizures are more likely to go away, but so is the memory.”

Opting to have epilepsy surgery is a daunting decision for some patients, as it is accompanied by the realistic possibility that it may not work. Additionally, patients fear that memory issues may arise as a result of an unsuccessful procedure—on top of the risk of continuing to experience seizures if the epileptic area is not fully removed.

In an interview with NeurologyLive, Lara Jehi, MD, professor of neurology, and epilepsy specialist, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, details the challenges that patients face when making this decision. While she ultimately advocates for surgery, she understands the hesitation that comes with it.

To clarify more about the process and to help the physician community understand the patient’s perspective when making the choice, Jehi outlines the epilepsy surgical process and lays out the pros and cons to the procedure.

For more coverage of AES 2019, click here.