Introduction

Advancements in outcomes for patients with seizures originating in extratemporal regions have not paralleled the steady improvements in treatment of patients with mesial temporal lobe origin of epilepsy. Arid yet methods of assessment of patients with extratemporal epilepsy have been refined to allow accurate localization and mapping of critical brain regions that may give rise to seizures. One initial key assessment is the electroencephalography. Common and unique clinical patterns are reviewed in detail. Important advances in diagnostic methods, combined with unique surgical approaches bode well for outcome of treatment for these challenging patients. This monograph is organized in an anatomic fashion. Occipital regions give rise to benign epilepsy syndromes and symptomatic seizures; these entities are reviewed in detail. Disorders located within perirolandic regions are discussed as well. Surgical treatment is reviewed from the view of using the mapping tools necessary to allow focal excision in functionally important regions of neocortex. On occasion, when localization has been completed, treatment may require surgical intervention but a functional region cannot be removed. This common and challenging clinical problem may be solved by multiple subpial transection. This method is discussed in detail.