Posted by Simon (213.122.137.72) on May 16, 2001 at 19:04:17:
In Reply to: interesting article... (a bit long) posted by Kevin on May 16, 2001 at 16:40:59:
There was an item on Tomorrow's World (a science programme on the BBC) recently about a woman with intractible epilepsy. They found the area of the brain that was causing her to fit for several seconds several times a day (making normal life impossible, job, driving, drinking etc) uder a scan similar to those used in Goadsby's research.
As the area of the brain concerned was effectively dead - all its functions seemed to have been bypassed - they "simply" removed it. Result - one near normal ex-epileptic.
Might be a bit drastic removing the hypothalamus, but it is very interesting the way that operations on the brain, as they become more precise, may hold out some hope.
Also, as it's attacking the apparent cause, not the symptoms (like artery chopping) it may hold out more hope.
Any thoughts - how many would try this sort of thing?
S