Blog #145: Epilepsy Patient Passes Driving Test After Brain Surgery

  

Several of my previous 144 monthly blogs on LanceFogan.com dealt with brain surgery as a chance to improve, or even cure, epilepsy in those whose epilepsy is poorly controlled. (See Blog # 89 December 26, 2017: Surgical Removal of Seizure Foci in Your Brain to Cure Poorly Controlled Epilepsy is Safe!; Blog # 101 February 26, 2019: Epilepsy—Fit to Drive?; Blog # 114 January 26, 2020: Epilepsy Surgery in Childhood and Long-Term Employment Is Encouraging.; Blog # 121 August 25, 2020: If Your Seizures Aren’t Controlled Epilepsy Surgery Is Safe and Really Can Help).

 

The greatest chance to cure your uncontrolled epilepsy is by successfully removing the seizure focus surgically.

My clinical experience has shown that there is so much that can physically alter the brain anatomically by surgery and by unintended trauma that surprisingly results in undetectable, or barely detectable, changes in a patient’s mental and physical capabilities. I have examined people who have been shot in the head, the bullet entering one side traversing through parts of the brain and exiting the other side of the head sparing sensitive brain areas. When neurosurgeons and neurologists perform specialized types of EEGs and imaging scans anticipating epilepsy surgery, sensitive parts of the brain can be identified and avoided.

The BBC on-line service recently reported that a man with epilepsy says he finally has independence. A surgical procedure removed his epilepsy focus and he then was able to pass his driving test.¹ The 40-year-old man had the brain operation eight years ago. Government rules meant the computer programmer from Birmingham was unable to take his driving test unless he was seizure-free for two years. But twice since learning to drive he had a seizure, setting him back each time and then Coronavirus lockdowns led to further delays. But eventually he was able to take the test and since passing, plans to take his young family on regular camping trips.

The man said he never thought he would be able to drive after living with epilepsy since childhood. But he underwent lesion resection, which involved inserting electrodes into his brain to detect electrical activity and carefully removing abnormal tissue.

Discuss possible epilepsy surgery with your neurological caregivers.

 

1)    Epilepsy Patient Passes Driving Test After Complex Surgery. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-62568014. Aug 16, 2022.

 

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 a recent Publishers Weekly, New York Times Book Review and the Los Angeles Times Calendar section. DINGS teaches epilepsy and is now available in eBook, audiobook, and soft and hard cover editions.