Introduction: Around twenty to thirty per cent of long-standing medically intractable epilepsies are caused by tumors of neuroepithelial tissue, especially neuronal–glial tumors. In such cases, resection of the lesion is the treatment of choice with good results overall. The aim of this study was to analyze the seizure outcome of children who underwent tumor resections.

Methods: Retrospective data on 42 children and adolescents with tumors of neuroepithelial tissue who underwent extensive preoperative diagnostic studies according to a standard epilepsy protocol between 1991 and 2012 were collected. Postoperatively, Engel classification was used for seizure outcomes.

Results: Ages at surgery were between 2 and 18 years (mean 11 years), 15 (67%) were male. Age at seizure onset varied between 1 month and 15 years (mean 6.2 years). Mean follow-up was 5.7 years (1 to 18). The dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNET) were the most frequent with 19 cases (45.2%), followed by ganglioglioma with 10 cases (23.8%) and other tumors represented 30.9%. At last clinical evaluation, 35 patients (83.3%) were Engel I, 2 (​​4.7%) Engel II, 4 (9.5%) Engel III and 1 (2.3%) Engel IV.

Conclusion: Surgical treatment for seizure control in children and adolescents with low-grade tumors provides excellent results. For attaining favorable seizure and oncological outcomes, children with tumors and epilepsy must be promptly and thoroughly evaluated for early surgery, under a surgical epilepsy program.