In
Anatomy a few days ago, we
watched a
video on some new
techniques for removing the
area of the
brain that is causing
epileptic seizures. The
area is
different for
everyone, but in both the cases that were shown, it was near the
speech area. The
seizures are caused by one
defective nerve cell, whose
location can be
found in a
couple of ways.
One of them is surgery. Its an exploratory operation that leaves the flap of skull open for at least one seizure after the initial operation. The way it's done is once they get to the raw brain, they place a strip of plastic with electrodes in it on the surface of the brain. The electrodes are all hooked up to a computer which moniters them in the beginning of the seizure. Which ever area reacts first is the one with defective brain matter.
The other way to find the nerve cell is by a special type of X-ray. This is the more accurate of the two and less intrusive. It is, of course, also the more expensive. But the case we saw where this was used pinpointed the cell exactly, one centimeter away from the speech area of the brain. The patient had not been able to get the cell removed before this because the previous technique had not allowed the doctors to see exactly where the defect was, and they thought it was too close to the vocal area to allow surgery.
There is hope beyond medication for epileptics, especially the severe cases. This surgery lets the patient live without fear of seizures; permanently. All I have to say is yay for technology.