No two seizure patients are exactly the same, but there are certain seizure syndromes that are well recognized, and have well worked out management solutions, that can be applied to the patient in order to achieve the best results.

Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most thoroughly understood epilepsy syndrome. One kind of temporal lobe epilepsy called mesial temporal lobe epilepsy is the model for epilepsy surgery. People with medically refractory epilepsy who have mesial temporal lobe epilepsy can be offered up to a 95% chance of complete seizure control with a single surgical procedure called an anterior mesial temporal lobectomy (or sometimes referred to as amygdala-hippocampectomy.)

Also, people with a brain lesion, such as a benign tumor or vascular malformation, that is determined to be responsible for their epilepsy, can similarly benefit from removal of the lesion.