Certain types of seizures result in collapse, stiffening and uncontrolled twitching for a few minutes, and then disorientation or drowsiness. Now doctors have discovered that they can control epileptic seizures in some patients by surgically removing a small portion of tissue from the area of the brain that triggers the haphazard electric activity causing the seizure. The results are so dramatic that 90 percent of those with certain types of epilepsy can live seizure-free lives after the procedure. According to Dr. Richard Kim, a UCI Medical Center neurosurgeon, about 30 percent of epilepsy patients do not respond to medication. As a consequence, some may have as many as a hundred seizures each month.
Some patients are able to become independent for the first time in their lives.