Epidemiologist’s View: Addressing the Epilepsy Surgery Treatment Gap with Minimally-Invasive Techniques

Despite the fact that epilepsy surgery is both safe and effective, a considerable "surgical treatment gap" remains in that most persons who are eligible for surgery do not receive it. It has been argued that epilepsy surgery is one of the most underutilized of all accepted medical treatments in the world. In this article, we review the epidemiology of the epilepsy surgery treatment gap, and consider the role minimally-invasive epilepsy surgery may play in reducing this gap.