Pediatric Neurostimulation and Practice Evolution

Pediatric epilepsy surgery is rapidly gaining momentum as practitioners and parents realize the safety and efficacy of this discipline, when compared with the hazards posed by epilepsy to the developing brain and the long-term consequences of uncontrolled seizures as children grow to adulthood. By overcoming historical biases of the dangers of neurosurgical intervention, we have made pediatric epilepsy surgery increasingly accessible, although it is still a severely under used therapeutic modality. Minimally invasive diagnostic techniques such as sEEG, selective thermal ablation techniques like LITT, the promise of long-term monitoring and machine learning with closed-loop devices with faster time to efficacy in treatment, and the potential to mitigate epileptic encephalopathies in children through neuromodulation are rapidly being accepted. Taken together with further advances in the ability to detect epileptogenic networks and putative structural culprits through neuroimaging, pediatric epilepsy surgery remains a field with significant growth potential for rapid evolution.

Automated summary

Pediatric epilepsy surgery has gained recognition for its safety and effectiveness in treating epilepsy in children. Advances in diagnostic and treatment techniques, such as minimally invasive procedures and neuroimaging, have contributed to its rapid growth potential.