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Hemispherectomy

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Operative Techniques in Epilepsy

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Abstract

This chapter is initiated by a history of the disorders in which the original anatomical hemispherectomy (aHSPY) was used, its postoperative courses, and the reasons why it was replaced by the so-called functional hemispherectomy (fHSPY). The remainder of the chapter is a description of the fHSPY, primarily the five steps used by the author: radical temporal lobectomy, Rolandic corticectomy, corpus callosotomy, and the final disconnections of the frontal lobe (posteroinferior frontal incision) and that of the posterior parietal and occipital lobes (anteromedial parietal incision). A reference to the question of whether the insular cortex should be a part of the fHSPY is addressed. Lastly, the consideration of other strategies of fHSPY is briefly discussed, particularly the so-called peri-insular and pure hemispherotomies.

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  1. Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada

    John P. Girvin

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  1. John P. Girvin
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Girvin, J.P. (2015). Hemispherectomy. In: Operative Techniques in Epilepsy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10921-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10921-3_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10920-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10921-3

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