A lobectomy is the removal of an entire lobe of the brain. Temporal lobectomy is the most common type of epilepsy surgery, and frontal lobectomy is the second.

Lobectomies are the most successful type of epilepsy surgery. 60 to 70 percent of children who have had temporal lobectomies are free of seizures that impair consciousness or cause abnormal movements.

The success rates for frontal lobectomies are not as good as for temporal lobectomies. But at least 70 percent of children who have had a frontal lobectomy greatly improve their seizure control. Most children continue to take seizure medicines, but they may need a less medicine.