The surgical control of acute epileptic foci in the cat's cerebral cortex.

Topectomy is the treatment of choice for patients suffering from intractable focal epilepsy not responding to pharmacological treatment. A disadvantage of this method is the neurological deficit produced by excision of functional neurons. For this reason the excision of epileptic foci in vital cortical regions is avoided. Thus patients suffering from intractable focal epilepsy in the motor area do not, as yet, have a satisfactory medical or surgical solution to their problem. The purpose of this work is to suggest a different surgical approach on the basis of new data regarding vertical neural connections in the cortex that are vital to the maintenance of the epileptic foci. This possibility has been investigated so far only in acute animal experiments with the intention of applying this method next in chronic animal experiments and then, if successful, in human beings.