It is one of the most common disorders when it comes to pediatric neurosurgery. Epilepsy, also known as epilepsy. They are abnormal electrical activities that occur in nerve cells in the brain. These are cases where a person has a seizure without any triggering external factor and these seizures recur. During the seizure, the patient’s head may fall forward/to the side, drooling from the mouth, involuntary movements of hands, arms and legs, loss of consciousness and urinary incontinence may occur. It is most commonly seen in children during adolescence.
Symptoms
The most important symptom of epilepsy is the seizures experienced by the patient.
Diagnosis
The most commonly used diagnostic technology in the diagnosis of epilepsy is EEG. Electrical activity in the brain can be seen with EEG. During the procedure, electrodes are placed on the hairy part of the child’s head. If the patient is a baby, the examination should be brought to bedtime. The process takes approximately 1 hour. Thus, brain activity is recorded. MRI and CT imaging may also be used from time to time in the diagnosis of epilepsy.
Why Does It Occur?
Epilepsy can have many different causes. Infections in the womb, oxygen deprivation of the baby during birth, developmental brain malformations, genetic predisposition.
Treatment
We have two options for treating epilepsy: medication and surgery. The first method to be applied is drug treatment. After EEG imaging, the appropriate medication is selected according to the type of epilepsy. Treatment is started. If no results can be achieved with drug treatment, surgical method is evaluated. Treatment continues for 2 years with different epileptic drugs before proceeding with surgery. This period may be slightly shorter in pediatric patients. Usually, there is an anomaly in the MRI imaging of patients who require epilepsy surgery. The surgeries that can be performed on such patients are as follows:
Focal resection: Removal of the epileptic area
Corpus callosotomy: Cutting the connection between the two halves of the brain
Hemispherotomy: If one half of the brain is damaged, disconnecting this region from the other half
