New Treatments Bring Hope to Epilepsy Patients

As we celebrate National Epilepsy Awareness Month, I’m struck by some strides we’ve made in treating this challenging disease over the past few years. While epilepsy can be well controlled with medications in about 60% of patients, some of the remaining 3.4 million epilepsy patients in the U.S. benefit from surgical interventions.

Over the past decade, several new surgical treatments of epilepsy have emerged. What’s especially exciting to me-as I am a firm advocate for the least invasive treatments possible that lead to the best result for my patients-is that many of these treatments, while advanced, are minimally invasive. This means patients experience less pain and faster recovery.

Some of these newer approaches use techniques to modify (or “modulate”) brain function, such as electrical stimulation, to reduce the number of seizures patients with epilepsy experience. Other approaches, which entail surgery for patients that have not responded to other treatments, can even “cure” epilepsy patients, meaning they no longer have to live with constant worry of when their next seizure will occur.

At New Jersey Brain and Spine, we offer the full range of treatment approaches, and we’re committed to finding the one that fits best for each individual patient’s needs. Before we recommend any approach, our team works with patients and their families to carefully evaluate their condition and take their unique goals and personal circumstances into account.