The vagal nerve stimulator s effectiveness varies. Most patients can expect a 50 percent reduction in seizures, with others experience better or worse results. The device is not considered to be a cure, so patients generally continue taking anti-epileptic medication. In cases where the stimulator has proven highly effective, the doctor may decide that a patient s medications can be reduced. When seizures originate in one half of the brain and spread to the other, a corpus callosotomy can be performed to sever the neural connections between the brain s two hemispheres.
Corpus callosotomy can also keep seizures from spreading to other areas of the brain.
Removing half of someone s brain is a radical concept, and there could be some very serious complications, including fluid build-up in the brain, infection, and coma. There is permanent loss of hand mobility on the side opposite of the removed hemisphere and vision may also be affected. For many of these children, hemispherectomy significantly or completely controls seizures and enables the youngsters to function well with improved behavior and intelligence.