What's more, because a child's brain is still developing, the consequences of seizures can be more severe than in adults. The need for new treatments to treat epilepsy in children was addressed at a conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health today and Thursday. Researchers described new drugs, surgery and experimental methods, such as implanting chips in the brain, as therapies on the horizon. But for now, the lack of drugs designed expressly for treating seizures in children and infants leaves a gaping hole, says Holmes. One out of every 10 people in the population will have at least one seizure in his life.
Seizures happen when the brain's cells fire abnormally.
The result can be anything from temporary confusion to total loss of consciousness to involuntary arm or leg movements. Sometimes a blow to the head or a fever will bring on a seizure. But other times, seizures have no clear cause. About 30,000 children in the United States are diagnosed with epilepsy each year. Doctors have known for years that measurements of electrical activity in the brain, known as EEGs, show quite different results during seizures.