Sumeet Vadera, MD: Advances in Epilepsy Surgery

“Rather than doing a large craniotomy, large incisions, taking a large piece of the bone, large resections—a lot of these things, we can do with minimally invasive techniques.”

Sumeet Vadera, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery, and director, epilepsy surgery, UC Irvine, told NeurologyLive at the 73rd annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society (AES), December 6-10, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland, that while there will most likely always be a place for open surgery in epilepsy, many of the advances that have been made prevent its need for a large number of patients.

These advancements include focused ultrasound, deep brain stimulation, percutaneous implantation, and neuromodulation, and they’ve allowed for surgeons and clinicians to improve outcomes for patients without undergoing more major surgery. One of the methods Vadera and colleagues use the most is responsive neurostimulation, due to its ability to address unresectable areas of the brain.

He also shared his insight into how these minimally invasive procedures have aided improved outcomes for patients, particularly cognitive ones, sometimes even more effectively than open surgery. While it’s still early in these processes, Vadera shared how these methods have pushed the field forward.

For more coverage of AES 2019, click here.