Intracranial Monitoring

Our epilepsy team use intracranial monitoring to learn more about the origin of a child’s seizures. Sometimes we also use the same intracranial electrodes to identify areas of the brain that are responsible for important functions such as speech, comprehension, vision, movement and sensation.

A surgeon creates an opening in the skull and exposes the surface of the brain. No brain tissue is removed, but small electrode strips are placed over the surface of the brain. A pediatric epileptologist is also in the operating room to help guide the electrode placement.

Once the procedure is complete, the scalp is closed. Your child will recover in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), followed by a stay in one of our Epilepsy Monitoring Units. Learn more about our Epilepsy Monitoring Units.

Later, the surgeon performs a second surgery to remove the electrodes and operate on the region of the brain where the seizures are forming.

The risks of this surgery are very small but may include:

• Bleeding
• Infection
• Small stroke

It is rare to have a patient’s seizures worsen as the result of epilepsy surgery or to have a patient die due to epilepsy surgery.