A pilot study has tested a new treatment based on ultrasound on epileptic patients who are unable to treat themselves, and the results are rather positive.
- Epilepsy is the second most frequent neurological pathology in France today.
- The number of patients of all ages with some form of epilepsy is officially estimated at 600,000.
- Among these patients, 30% have a form of epilepsy resistant to treatment.
Ultrasound may help prevent seizures in some epilepsy patients, says a new search published in Epilepsia.
Six patients resistant to the drugs tested
Ultrasound, which can be used to noninvasively target brain circuitry, may especially benefit some epileptics whose seizures are not treatable with standard medications. To reach this conclusion, the researchers tested ultrasound on six drug-resistant patients. Of six patients, two had fewer seizures within three days of ultrasound treatment. One person, on the other hand, had more frequent seizures.
Imaging tests performed after the treatment revealed no negative effects of ultrasound on the brain. One patient reported feeling heat in the scalp during treatment, and another suffered from temporary memory impairment which resolved within three weeks.
Deeper brain regions
“Ultrasound can access deeper brain regions and focus on the primary target of the epileptic network in a relatively less invasive approach,” concludes the trial’s lead author Hsiang-Yu Yu, who works at a hospital in Taipei, Taiwan. “This gives new hope to patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.”
Epilepsy is a brain neurological disorder caused by the transient abnormal functioning of brain nerve cells (neurons). This excessive and simultaneous functioning of the neurons results in sudden “electric” discharges, which translate clinically into epileptic seizures.
.
