A study analyzed brain
tissue from 20 patients with recurrent drug-resistant seizures due to specific
types of congenital abnormalities in brain cortex that promoted seizures from
that focus. “Despite thousands of focal seizures over a lifetime, no signs of nearby
cell loss nor of reactive inflammation—all signs indicative of brain damage—were
seen…in the areas surrounding these type II focal cortical dysplasias studied,”
researchers at the division of clinical epileptology and neurology at the Carlo
Besta Neurological Institute in Milan, Italy reported.1
The researchers hoped
their findings would encourage patients and reduce fears of brain damage
associated with this specific type of congenital abnormal brain cortex cells
causing their frequent seizures.
About 30% of epilepsy
patients in general do not respond to pharmacological therapy and 30% of these
patients can be candidates for surgery if the seizure focus can be identified
and judged to be safe for removal. Those
patients who are seizure-free after surgery that removes these specific types
of abnormal brain cells can have their antiseizure drugs gradually withdrawn.
Social life, quality of life and productivity improvements would be expected.
The frequency of seizures
in this study of these specific brain cell types of abnormality ranged from
one/month to 300/month. The duration of their epilepsy ranged from one to 40
years.
This study does not
contradict substantial evidence that seizures in general can cause brain changes,
especially in the limbic system, i.e., that area sensitive to memory function.
1) Rossini
L, Garbelli R, Gnatkovsky V, et. al. Seizure activity per se does not induce
tissue damage markers in human neocortical local epilepsy. Ann Neurol
2017; 82: 331-334.
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.
