Stanford Surgical Epilepsy Program

Surgical Treatment of Epilepsy

About one-third of people with epilepsy will eventually develop intractable epilepsy. This means that medicines do not work well, or at all, to control the seizures, and surgery is needed to reduce or eliminate the seizures. Our surgical epilepsy program is part of Stanford's Level IV Epilepsy Center, the highest-level designation awarded to epilepsy centers around the country, allowing us to treat the most difficult forms of intractable epilepsy for both children and adults. Our program offers innovative treatment options, including minimally invasive laser surgery and non-destructive electrical implants. Some of these treatments offer greater precision than ever in targeting the seizure source, and Stanford is one of the few sites in the world that offers all of these options. In addition, our researchers have been pioneers in developing and testing devices that allow for safer, less invasive therapies to reduce seizure rate and severity. 

 At Stanford, we offer the following surgical treatment options:

Stanford Joins Multi-Center SLATE Trial

Stanford Neurosurgery is now enrolling patients for the SLATE  study to evaluate the use of Visualase™ MRI-Guided Laser Ablation System for treatment of patients with drug-resistant mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.


Comprehensive Epilepsy Program

As part of Stanford's Epilepsy Center, patients will be offered a comprehensive evaluation prior to meeting with Stanford's neurosurgeons. Meet our neurologists and learn more about non-surgical treatments we offer, by visiting our comprehensive epilepsy program

Epilepsy Patient Care

Designated by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers with its highest distinction level as a level 4 center, the Stanford Comprehensive Epilepsy Program is ranked among the top comprehensive centers in the nation.

Our nationally-recognized epilepsy team works together to develop a personalized treatment plan for you and provides care for more than 4,000 patients annually. Team members include epileptologists, epilepsy surgeons, neuroradiologists, neuropsychologists, neuropsychiatrists and nurses with extensive expertise in epilepsy.

Individuals with epilepsy that cannot be controlled by medications are referred to the Stanford Intractable Epilepsy Program. Patients with seizures that originate from a single source in the brain are evaluated for epilepsy surgery combined with brain mapping, offering greater precision than ever in removing the seizure source without causing impairments.

Using Tractography

Our pediatric neurosurgeons are now using patient-specific tractography for epilepsy patients. Using these recordings surgeons can precisely map an individual child's seizure network to design a tailored surgical approach. We are one of the first pediatric centers to utilize the Synaptive surgical planning and robotic platform, bringing together structural, functional, and connectomic imaging in an effort to understand these networks pre-operatively, making epilepsy surgery safer and more effective.