[Short account of modern history of surgery in temporal lobe epilepsy]

We make an overview of the most significant historical steps of the temporal lobe epilepsies surgical treatment, from the first description, at the end of 19th century, to recent times. We also describe the history of neuropsichological testing (mainly Wada test), extra- and intra-cranial EEG-recordings, synchronised electro-clinical monitoring, structural and functional neuroimaging. We mainly tried to point out that the selection of candidates to surgical treatment should be based, despite any technological development, on a synoptical anatomo-electroclinical reasoning.