Deep Temporal Lobe Stimulation in Man

Before discussing deep temporal lobe stimulation with chronically implanted stereotactic electrodes, it might be well to mention some of the ethical considerations involved in this kind of stereotactic surgery. First of all, the patients who are candidates for stereotactic temporal lobe electrodes are all temporal lobe epileptics with aggressive behavior who have had a considerable trial period of anti-epileptic and ataractic drugs, together with the various forms of psychotherapy. Almost all of these patients would be considered as candidates for the more traditional anterior temporal lobectomy, except that they had multiple foci, which were usually independent, bilateral, and non-synchronous in nature. All of our patients except one were adults, and this one exception was a brain tumor suspect with a pneumoencephalographic diagnosis of temporal lobe tumor.