Brain surgery for epilepsy 'very successful'
Thursday 21st July 2011
A new study has underlined the success of brain surgery in treating severe epilepsy.
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco reported that two-thirds of people with severe and otherwise untreatable epilepsy were cured of frequent seizures by neurosurgery.
Scientists examined 143 patients two years after their operations for the study, which was published in journal the Annals of Neurology.
The research did not just highlight the merits of brain surgery for this condition, but emphasised how brain imaging could be used to improve the outcome further for patients who undergo this procedure.
Study leader Edward Chang explained that the success of the surgery was inherently linked to how successfully the medical team were able to map the brain, identify the specific pieces of tissue causing the patient's seizures and remove them.
He said that surgery was a "powerful" tool for halting debilitating epilepsy.
"Many of these people were living 10, 15 or 20 years with very severe and dangerous seizures," elaborated the researcher.
"We need to continue to focus on developing new methods to figure out and pinpoint where the seizures are coming from."
Epileptic seizures are caused by spontaneous instabilities in the brain's neurons, resulting in symptoms varying from muscle twitches to severe convulsions and loss of consciousness, depending on which section of the brain is affected.
This follows comments from Helen Bullbeck, director of brainstrust, who said that epilepsy caused by brain tumours can be "very, very complex and difficult to manage".
She explained that getting the seizure-controlling medication right can take a long time and all the while the patient must cope with other brain tumour symptoms such as headaches and nausea.
The expert also said that is important for the patient themselves to manage the condition and retain all the information given to them by different healthcare professionals as often their physicians will not collaborate.
Written by Mathew Horton
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