A simple scoring system from researchers at Rutgers Health and other institutions may help doctors predict which patients will likely become seizure-free after minimally invasive epilepsy surgery. A study in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology introduces a predictive model that could expand access to surgical treatment for the neurological disorder that causes recurring seizures. Epilepsy affects nearly 3 million people in the United States, with roughly one-third not responding adequately to medications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For these patients, surgery to remove or disable the part of the brain causing seizures can be an effective treatment but predicting which patients will emerge seizure-free has been difficult.
The researchers developed their model based on data from 101 patients who underwent stereotactic laser amygdalohippocampotomy (SLAH), a procedure that uses a laser (laser interstitial thermal therapy, or LITT) to target and disable a small area in the temporal lobe of the brain that causes seizures in many patients. “We’ve pried open the therapeutic window with this minimally invasive approach,” said Robert Gross, senior author of the study and chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson and New Jersey Medical School. “Now the question is, how well do we think the patients are going to do with the information we have before doing the procedure?” To read the full story.