Insular Cortex and Insular Epilepsy

Insular cortex epilepsy is an under-recognized, localization-related syndrome. The presence of this condition could account for the surgery treatment failure seen in a portion of patients with temporal epilepsy, as well as a portion of those with frontal and parietal lobe epilepsy. Most cases of intractable temporal epilepsy are associated with insular cortex involvement. In this review, we will discuss the associations of insular cortex with other nervous cortex systems anatomically and functionally in order to correctly understand the insular lobe; the relationship between insular epilepsy and temporal epilepsy, the independence of insular epilepsy, and differences of insular epilepsy between the independent epileptogenesis and epileptic system as well as the concept of epileptic foci-complex were also discussed based on the current literature and our clinical experience in the treatment of epilepsy.