Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological conditions in children and adults. The lifetime risk of developing epilepsy is 3.2%. In this review article we suggest how to apply a safety protocol for the surgical treatment of antiepileptic drugs resistant patients. We review who the ideal candidate for a pre-surgical evaluation is and when to do it; how to do it, using clinical, physiological, imaging and neuro-cognitive biomarkers in order to achieve medical benefit from epilepsy surgery; why patients should go and receive a surgical evaluation. Finally we review the current concepts of drug resistant epilepsy and the surgical intervention benefit/risk relationship.
Surgery
Cirugía de Epilepsia en Ecuador 2010.
Cirugía en Hernias Discales Lumbares: Comparación de Técnicas
We studied 468 cases of lumbar disk hernias. They were surgically operated following standard clinical and radiological criteria. Of the 468 cases, 319 were operated using standard techniques and 149 cases were operated with microsurgery. Comparative study between these two techniques and results were evaluated. The results were excellent in 82.3% of cases when used standard techniques, and were excellent in 91.4% with microsurgery. We concluded, that microsurgery in lumbar disk hernias is a good option to decrease the risk of surgical trauma and to obtain a better postoperative prognosis.