Awake Neurosurgery: Treatment of Three Patients Suffering from Intractable Epilepsy Due to Brain Tumor in Iran

Awake neurosurgery permits the continuous assessment of neurological functions during the brain surgery. In patients in which the tumor is located adjacent to or in an eloquent brain region, such as the language or motor cortex, an awake craniotomy is indicated that allows for intraoperative brain mapping by direct cortical stimulation.
Case Description: Three patients (2 male veterans and 1 female aged 20-49 years) suffering from intractable epilepsy and brain tumor in frontal and parietal were undergone awake neurosurgery in Khatam Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The resection of the lesions was performed under local anesthesia and continuous neurological examination. Intraoperative brain stimulation was performed to localizing the sensitive regions close to brain tumors.
Complete (2 patients) and partial resection (1 patient) of brain tumors were performed during surgeries. There were no nuerological deficits or psychological sequelae after the tumor resection. Two months after surgeries, two patients did not experience any seizure attack. The number of seizures in the third patient significantly reduced.
Awake neurosurgery is a safe procedure that assists in performing minimally invasive resection of lesions in eloquent and non-eloquent brain regions.