How is Gamma Knife treatment for epilepsy different from traditional surgery?

  In refractory epilepsy, surgical treatment can be considered after localization of the foci of origin. Traditional surgery involves craniotomy to remove the “epileptogenic focus” or to cut off the conduction pathway, which is an invasive treatment and carries certain risks, while Gamma Knife is a precisely calculated and focused irradiation of the lesion. According to current experience, a smaller dose of irradiation is generally used, which does not destroy brain tissue and does not cause serious damage to the normal function of brain tissue, but only inhibits abnormal excessive discharge, thus achieving the purpose of treating epilepsy. However, since the skull is not opened, the localization of the seizure origin is particularly important, and based on experience, only a small percentage of patients can be treated with gamma knife.