Detroit, Mich. (PRWEB) November 08, 2011

Brain stimulation, already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the therapy of Parkinsons illness and essential tremor, has now been shown to offer considerable relief to patients with intractable seizures for whom drugs and other remedies have not worked.

This is the main locating of a initial-of-its-type study of responsive electric brain stimulation in adults with medically refractory, or hard to treat, epilepsy.

The NeuroPace Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS) Program consists of a miniaturized, implanted laptop or computer which can detect seizures from electrodes implanted into or on the surface of the brain and deliver an electrical pulse to stop them.

Henry Ford Hospital was the only site in Michigan to participate in this multicenter investigation, which was based in California. The study is published in the current problem of Neurology.

For the third of men and women who have tried two or 3 medicines for their epilepsy, but are still having seizures, the common of care is removing the abnormal portion of the brain that is causing seizures. More than 50 percent of patients undergoing surgical removal of brain tissue causing seizures will be cured of their epilepsy, says Jason M. Schwalb, M.D., Director, Movement Disorder and Behavioral Neurosurgery at Henry Ford Wellness System.

Nonetheless, there are individuals who are not candidates for this kind of surgery due to the fact of prospective side effects. Until now, we have not had excellent treatment choices. The RNS system is an attractive alternative for these patients, specially because it is reversible.

A total of 191 adults, ages 18 to 70, whose disabling epileptic seizures had not been controlled by at least two medicines, had been chosen. They had been studied at 32 medical sites all through the U.S. for 3 years, beginning in late 2005.

All patients were implanted with electric leads attached to 1 or two seizure focal points in their brains. Their abnormal brain activity was recorded for a month, and then they had been selected at random either to obtain electric stimulation or to be given sham, or no remedy.

The researchers identified:

The 97 patients who were treated with the RNS method had 37.9 percent fewer seizures than prior to surgery. Those 94 patients in the sham, or untreated group, had only 17.three fewer seizures than prior to surgery.

When those in the sham group had the RNS technique turned on, seizures had been considerably reduced.

There was no difference among the two groups in the number of adverse events associated with the remedy.

The effects of the remedy led to important improvements in patients top quality of life. (Medically refractory epilepsy patients with frequent seizures are at danger of depression, suicidal thoughts and actions, memory loss, and SUDEP, or sudden unexplained death in epilepsy.)

The RNS epilepsy study was funded by NeuroPace, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., manufacturer of the neurotransmitter used by the researchers for responsive brain stimulation.

Neurologists from the Henry Ford Comprehensive Epilepsy Program (HFCEP) who participated in the analysis were Gregory L. Barkley, M.D., who was the principal investigator for the Henry Ford Hospital research Marianna Spanaki-Varelas, M.D., Ph.D. Shailaja Gaddam. M.D. and Vibhanghi Wasade, M.D. Helen Foley, RN, was the analysis nurse coordinator for the study.

For information on RNS stimulation and remedy of epilepsy, call the HFCEP Epilepsy Hotline at 313-916-3200.

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