PILOT STUDY SHOWS NEW EPILEPSY TREATMENT PROMISING.Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer VALENCIA -- A new treatment for people with epilepsy It may never be fully completed or, depending on its its nature, it may be that it can never be completed. However, new and revised entries in the list are always welcome. <onlyinclude> This is a list of notable people who have, or had, the medical condition epilepsy. stimulates a nerve in the brain and has cut the number of seizures in half for many participating in the study, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a recent report. Published in the July journal of Epilepsia, the Olive View and UCLA Medical Center UCLA Medical Center is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. It is rated as one of the top three hospitals in the United States and is the top hospital on the West Coast according to US News & World Report. pilot study takes the treatment of epilepsy in a new direction, away from medications used to control the disease characterized by recurrent seizures recurrent seizure Neurology A repeated unprovoked seizure that can be disabling dis·a·ble tr.v. dis·a·bled, dis·a·bling, dis·a·bles 1. To deprive of capability or effectiveness, especially to impair the physical abilities of. 2. Law To render legally disqualified. to the 2.5 million Americans living with it. ``It's a whole new direction to go to treat people's epilepsy with those who have poorly controlled seizures,'' said Christopher DiGiorgio, UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX neurology professor and attending Olive View physician. ``We're on the ground floor of a whole new direction.'' In the study, participants wore small electrode-containing silver discs on their faces for 12 to 24 hours each day. The electrodes passed currents about every 15 to 30 seconds to the trigeminal nerve trigeminal nerve n. The chief sensory nerve of the face and the motor nerve of the muscles of chewing. The nuclei of the nerve are in the mesencephalon and in the pons and extend down into the cervical portion of the spinal cord. , which extends into the brain from the face and forehead and can inhibit seizures. Four of the seven participants who used the stimulator during the study reported a 50 percent reduction in seizures. Still in its research phases, the treatment is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. DiGiorgio said the mechanism helps patients who don't respond to medicines prescribed to control seizures, and at the same time, it doesn't have any side effects Side effects Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm. that medications can bring. About one million Americans with epilepsy don't respond to medicines to treat it, he said. Jennifer Rees found that medicines to control her epilepsy left her feeling lousy. One gave the 44-year-old severe arthritis pain and left her unable to drive. Eager to find another treatment, Rees participated in the study and wore the electrodes on her face at night -- the time her seizures typically occur. After a few months, her seizures dropped from eight to two a month on average. Researchers are now looking to their next study, in which the device will be implanted under participants' eyebrows. The Valencia-based Advanced Bionics supported the study and is creating electrodes for the surgically implanted device. Pleased with the results so far, Rees said she'll likely have the operation one day to implant the mechanism permanently. ``When it gets to the point where they'll implant it, I'll opt for that because I know it works for me,'' she said. Even without the implantable device, DiGiorgio said the external treatment could one day be offered to people around the world who don't have access to high-tech medical care. They could still assemble the stimulator at a low cost and find relief from epilepsy. sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com (661)257-5254 |
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