5. Surgery - Temporal lobectomy or topectomy (removal of a small, specific area of brain tissue) is the standard surgical treatment for medically intractable epilepsy whose seizure focus is not in a critical brain region, such as an area that controls language, movement, or sensation. If the patient's seizures arise from one of these areas, an alternative procedure called multiple subpial transection will be offered. In this procedure, vertical cuts are made in the seizure focus to prevent neurons (nerve cells that transmit electrical impulses) in the focus from spreading the seizure to the rest of the brain.