Switching off epilepsy
A WORLD-FIRST trial will deliver electrical pulses to the “master control centre” deep inside the brain, aiming to halt seizures and restore clear thinking in those whose severe epilepsy doesn’t respond to treatment.
Victorians with LennoxGastaut syndrome, an aggressive type of daily epilepsy that typically appears in childhood and causes learning difficulties, are the first to be enrolled in the experimental deep brain stimulation trial led by Austin Health and the University of Melbourne.
Medication or surgery doesn’t work for a quarter of epilepsy patients and those with the syndrome also often suffer “drop attacks”.
These are seizures that send them randomly crashing to the ground or through walls, resulting in broken bones, fractured skulls and chipped teeth.
Austin neurologist and lead investigator Dr John Archer said this syndrome had a “double whammy” of damage; injuries and anxiety from seizures, but it also hijacked the brain’s “thinking” networks to disrupt learning processes.
“The major cognitive functions like attention are not located in one spot in the brain, but across a number of key nodes in the network,” Dr Archer said.
“When epilepsy gets into these, it’s a fundamental disruption to the brain.
“This led to the idea that what’s needed is a treatment that tackles the network of the brain.”
Similar to deep brain stimulation to treat the tremors and stiffness of Parkinson’s disease, the trial will involve placing a pair of electrodes in the brain, which are connected by internal wires to a pacemaker box on the chest.
The stimulation target is the thalamus, the “Flinders Street railway station of the brain” as the relay station for electrical signalling controlling sensory and motor tasks.
The double-blinded study, backed by a $1 million grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council, will see 20 patients implanted during the next 18 months.
Janina Freestone, 48, will be one of the first to undergo the surgery.
Her seizures started when she was three and she experiences multiple times each day.
Janina is hoping for a better life from the treatment.
Lennox-Gastaut syndrome patients are needed for the study.
For details go to: estel-study@unimelb.edu.au