Surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy: piriform cortex matters

Removal of this part of the cortex is associated with more patients becoming seizure-free, but there may be additional surgical risks
Reuters Health
Saggital section shwoing one half of the brain

Patients are more likely to be seizure-free after surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy if the piriform-cortex is included in the resection, researchers report.

“The piriform cortex is part of the olfactory system, and so an important signal amplifier, hugely important in animals, less so in humans,” said Dr Matthias Koepp from the UK National Institute for Health Research, in London.