Surgical treatment of frontal lobe epilepsy

  The incidence of frontal lobe epilepsy, second only to temporal lobe epilepsy, is mostly secondary to epilepsy, and a few are idiopathic epilepsy of unknown origin.  The clinical manifestations are mostly grand mal seizures with early loss of consciousness, often accompanied by motor aura, such as head or eyes turning or staring to the opposite side, jerking of the contralateral upper or lower limbs, followed by generalized tonic spasm grand mal seizures, which may be followed by transient hemiparesis or light paralysis of the contralateral limb, and transient motor aphasia occurring more often on the left side.  The EEG may reveal widespread abnormal discharges in the frontal area on one or both sides, and repeated examinations may determine the location and extent of the epileptogenic foci. The diagnosis of frontal lobe epilepsy can be determined by combining clinical symptoms and seizure process.  If the patient is not treated with long-term medication and the epileptic foci are limited to the frontal lobe, frontal lobe resection can be considered.  The frontal bone flap on the side of the epileptic focus is used for craniotomy, and the coronal flap and small bone flap are used for women. In order to preserve some mental and motor functions, submural transection can be added around the epileptic foci, and the frontal lobe epileptic foci are rarely removed to produce significant brain dysfunction.