Problems and pitfalls in developing countries

Despite major challenges, in the last decade several epilepsy centers in the developing world have successfully implemented epilepsy surgery programs and produced results comparable to those from developed countries. If the program is to have a lasting impact, it would be essential to work with and educate the local professionals and public about the recent advances in the treatment of epilepsies. The epilepsy surgery centers in developing countries should initially restrict their surgical candidates to patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and those with circumscribed potentially epileptogenic lesions in whom the epileptogenic zone can be unquestionably localized by using locally available relatively inexpensive and noninvasive technologies, and in whom an excellent postoperative outcome can be guaranteed. It is important for such epilepsy center to assess its capabilities and limitations regularly and adopt a stepwise progressive approach to increasing levels of complex presurgical evaluation and surgical treatment strategies.