New Treatment Offers Hope for Epilepsy Sufferers

Roughly two-thirds of epilepsy patients respond to medication, but the remaining third who do not are often doomed to live in fear of their next seizure. But the findings of a trial published in the journal Epilepsia Thursday suggest that hope could be on the horizon even for the toughest cases thanks to "deep brain stimulation," reports ABC News.

The double-blind trial, conducted by a large group of researchers, involved implanting an electrical stimulation device in 110 patients suffering from epilepsy. For the first three months, half had the devices activated. After that period, for the remaining nine months, all patients received mild electrical stimulation. Patients were followed for two years.

Researchers report that 54 percent of patients had the frequency of their seizures cut in half, and 14 patients were seizure-free for five months.

This new study "provides very objective support for the idea that this is effective," one of the researchers Dr. Michael Kaplitt told ABC News. "I think that what this provides is a new type of weapon in the battle against seizures, and it provides legitimate hope to people who may have had no hope."

Kaplitt cautioned that the invasive treatment is only intended for those "patients whose lives are being devastated," because medication has failed to adequately control the disease.

"It is very invasive; you need to go into people's brains and put in wires," Dr. Tallie Baram, a pediatric neurologist and epilepsy researcher at the UC Irvine told ABC News. "There are risks of hemorrhage and infection, although neither occurred during this trial. "It's expensive, it's invasive, it's dangerous long-term, so it's not something you think lightly about."

But doctors say that for the worst cases of epilepsy, it might be worth the risk, even if the treatment only cuts their seizures in half. According to the non-profit Epilepsy Foundation, almost 3 million people in the US have some form of epilepsy, with about 200,000 new cases of seizure disorders and epilepsy diagnosed each year. During an epileptic seizure, a strong surge of electrical activity affects part or all of the brain, affecting a wide variety of physical and mental functions.

Deep brain stimulation has been previously approved for Parkinson's disease and movement disorders. It is currently being considered for depression, as well. A US Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended that deep brain stimulation be approved as a treatment for epilepsy on March 12, but a final decision has not been made.

Photo by michi003 via Flickr.