Epilepsy treated with rare procedure at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal

MANIPAL: A 26-year-old woman, Seetha (name changed), from north Kerala with a history of recurrent seizures from the age of six, was successfully operated upon the by the doctors of the department of Neurosurgery, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal to set right a condition called right mesial temporal sclerosis, due to which she was getting the seizures.
“The surgery was done in March and she is doing well.There has been no complaint of seizure after the surgery. It is a rare procedure,” said Dr Girish Menon - Head, Department of Neurosurgery.
The Department of Neurology under Brigadier (Dr) Shankar Prasad Gorti and Neurosurgery under Dr Girish Menon and Dr Vinod Kumar have developed a comprehensive programme for the evaluation and management of persons with medically refractory epilepsy.
The procedure has been found to be successful in all the seven patients who have been operated here in Kasturba Hospital so far. The patients do not have to take even drugs also.
As for Seetha, she had to drop out of school because of the ailment after completing Std VIII. She used to get the feeling of nausea and abnormal lip and jaw movements. This would soon turn into a full blown seizure and would lose consciousness for some time. She was on regular medications since childhood but would still get around six to 10 attacks every month.
That was when she was brought to Kasturba Hospital Manipal. After a detailed evaluation by Dr Jayakrishnan - Consultant Neurologist, Kasturba Hospital Manipal - which included MRI, video EEG and neuro-psychological tests, it was found that her epilepsy was arising from the right temporal lobe of the brain. The condition is called right mesial temporal sclerosis. The doctors then decided to carry out the surgery, which was successful.
Dr Gorti said the last few years have witnessed remarkable advances in the evaluation and treatment of patients with refractory epilepsy. And surgery is an option in patients with medically refractory epilepsy. The important advantage of the surgical treatment of Epilepsy is that the patient would get back productive life and the patient would not require economic burden of medication, he adds.