Since
2011, my monthly epilepsy blog followers (LanceFogan.com) have reviewed several
blogs touching on the efficacy of epilepsy surgery on improving epilepsy—often
cures result. Specialized epilepsy neurosurgical centers evaluate each
candidate and if the seizure focus can be localized with various test
procedures, and if it is determined that surgery on that focus would be safe
without debilitating side-effects, e.g., speech problems, motor, sensory or
visual complicating deficits, highly successful outcomes are routine.
Review
my most recent epilepsy blogs on epilepsy surgery: blog #145 Aug. 25, ’22; blog#121, Aug 25, ’20, and blog #89, Dec 26, ’17.
Bryan Bicknell, the CTV News Reporter, on June 23, 2023, reported that a neurosurgeon at the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, Canada, became the first to perform deep brain stimulation with a robot!
Neurosurgeon, Dr. Jonathan Lau, reported that all
three of these robot procedures he has done since January 2023, have been
successful. All went home a day or two after the procedure. He
likens it to implanting a pacemaker for a bad heart.
“This
is the same idea. People with epilepsy have a predisposition to having
seizures, so they have irregular rhythms in their brain in terms of electrical
activity. So, the same principle applies. An irregular rhythm there, so we put
electrodes in the appropriate spots with the aid of the robot which is less
intrusive than surgery. The electrodes can restore function and prevent
seizures.” Lau said it was almost by accident that he and his team at
University Hospital decided to employ it for this specific use.
“It was actually a
fairly routine day when we decided, ‘Okay, because we don’t have the other
options let’s use the robot.’ So, we inquired a little bit and it turns out
nobody had done this for this indication in Canada,” he explained.
Epilepsy is one of the
most common neurological disorders in the world, affecting one percent of the
population, more than 300,000 Canadians. And not only is there a stigma around
the disease itself, but Lau said there’s also a stigma attached to the very
surgery to improve life for those living with it. Brain surgery can seem scary,
but Lau said new technologies actually make it safer.
“With things like
robotic assistance, with improvements in imaging, the risks of the procedure
are much, much lower, and it’s just raising that awareness,” he said. Lau added
that robot-assisted deep brain stimulation surgery is a treatment for some
patients who would not otherwise be considered for surgery.
This is another road you
might consider if your epilepsy is uncontrollable.
Lance Fogan, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. His hard-hitting emotional family medical drama, “DINGS, is told from a mother’s point of view. “DINGS” is his first novel. Aside from acclamation on internet bookstore sites, U.S. Report of Books, and the Hollywood Book Review, DINGS has been advertised in recent New York Times Book Reviews, the Los Angeles Times Calendar section and Publishers Weekly. DINGS teaches epilepsy and is now available in eBook, audiobook, soft and hard cover editions.
