By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 27, 2012
An innovative new study merges engineering and clinical expertise to develop a revolutionary method to diagnose and treat epilepsy patients.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic believe a new type of non-invasive brain scan taken immediately after a seizure will provide advanced insight into possible causes and treatments for epilepsy patients.
The new findings could benefit millions of people who are unable to control their epilepsy with medication.
The research is published online in the journal Brain.
Researchers say the study resulted in several significant findings:
This is the first-ever study where new non-invasive methods were used to study patients after a seizure instead of during a seizure, said Dr. Bin He, a biomedical engineering professor in the University of Minnesotas College of Science and Engineering and senior author of the study. Its really a paradigm shift for research in epilepsy.
Epilepsy affects nearly 3 million Americans and 50 million people worldwide. Although medications and other treatments help many people of all ages who live with epilepsy, about 1 million people in the U.S. and 17 million people worldwide continue to have seizures that can severely limit their lives.
Medical researchers have always faced the challenge of determining the part of the brain responsible for the seizures. Learning the specific site of the seizure helps physicians determine the best possible treatment.
In the past, most research has focused on studying patients while they were having a seizure, or what is technically known as the ictal phase of a seizure. Some of these studies involved invasive methods such as surgery to collect data.
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New Scan A ‘Paradigm Shift’ in Epilepsy Research