Neurosurgeon Questions Epilepsy

What is the best treatment for epilepsy?

My daughter has epilepsy, and unfortunately medication has not helped her. Do we have any other options?

5 Answers

Yes, but your daughter should be assessed at a specialized epilepsy unit. They will look for a specific cause for the epilepsy. They may try the ketogenic diet - this works for some children. If the seizures are generated from one area, surgery is possible. If not, there are a couple of operations that can be useful for certain types of epilepsy.
Sometimes surgery can be an option to remove the area of the brain that seizures come from (seizure focus). This needs to be assessed carefully and if deemed to be safe, generally is in fact safe and has good results in most cases. Look for a Children's Hospital near you and see if the have an Epilepsy Surgery Program. Most large university hospitals do, and some good private practice centers exist also.
Yes most epilepsy centers can offer surgical and medical therapies for medically refractory epilepsy
There are different types of epilepsy like generalized or partial, complex partial seizure, and there are so many old and newer agents available for treatment depending on the type of seizure, so the best step is to see a neurologist and get the right treatment.
This is a complicated topic. In general the first line treatment for recurrent seizures is medications. There are a large number of medications available and depending on patient's age, type of seizures and other considerations, a pediatric neurologist can help select which medication or medications will be appropriate. For some patients, however, seizures recur in spite of optimal medication. For some of these patients, surgery may be appropriate--again there are different types of surgery for epilepsy. The best advice would be to be seen by a pediatric neurologist with special interest in epilepsy and that center can more fully advise you.