New brain surgery treats seizures in children
06 Jan 2016
After eight years of study, a Children’s Hospital of Michigan neurosurgeon and his colleagues are using an endoscope to perform surgical procedures to help control intractable epileptic seizures in pediatric patients – without subjecting them to the invasive skull surgery that has been previously required for treatment.
The pioneering surgical technique by Sandeep Sood, M.D., who is also an associate professor of Neurosurgery at the Wayne State University School of Medicine, will be featured on the cover of the December 2015 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery Pediatrics. The minimally-invasive surgical breakthrough could become the standard of care for stopping seizures in patients considered candidates for corpus callosotomy, the structure of nerve fibers that allows for communication between the two sides of the brain, and hemispherotomy. The treatment will reduce or eliminate the need for large skull incisions and accompanying risks, including pain, infection, need for blood transfusions and lengthy hospital stays.
