Successful surgery for patient living with seizures for 21 years due to epilepsy

15/07/2021 07:50

After 21 years of fighting epilepsy with her son, Ms. A. can now be relieved to see L. successfully underwent one surgery performed by medical team of Viet Duc University Hospital (VDUH).

 

T.T.L is 28 years old this year. At the age of 7, L began to manifest signs of epilepsy. For more than 20 years, family has been by L’s side and taken L everywhere for treatment, whoever told him where to get treatment for epilepsy, his mother took him to places, but internal treatment and taking medication did not help L’s condition improve, he even encountered drug resistance. Sudden seizures still turn L’s life upside down from a boy to now a 28-year-old boy. Every week, L has an average of 5-6 seizures, nearly every day, the seizures that make him unable to focus on studying, socializing and having fun like other boys. Despite the difficulties, L’s mother is not discouraged, she and her son continue to walk on the long journey to fight the disease. After 20 years, Ms. A found out at VDUH there is a surgical method to treat epilepsy and brought L. here to be examined and consulted by doctors.

 

Mr. Tran Dinh Van – MD, MS, Department of Neurosurgery one, VDUH, who has performed hundreds of successful surgeries for epilepsy, directly examined L. Soon having all necessary tests, doctors of expert panel including neurologist, neurosurgeon, radiologists, neuropsychologists have carefully consulted patient’s condition. After that, experts have localized the lesion and assessed the cause due to fibrosis of the left hippocampus. As this is the dominant cerebral hemisphere with many important functions, after surgery the patient will be at risk of affecting language and memory, doctors have continued to consult on the treatment regimen for patient. Being thoroughly evaluated, L was operated to cure epilepsy. Currently, after the 5th day of surgery, he is completely stable, there are no postoperative sequelae or complications, the postoperative x ray check is good, there is no bleeding or no seizures signs.

 

 

Mr. Tran Dinh Van – MD, MS added, L’s surgery was classified as curative epilepsy surgery when the cause could be ascertained. For patients with no specific cause on the brain that can only be identified as generalized and drug-resistant epilepsy, palliative surgery will be offered, namely ablation calluses, interrupting hypothalamic lesions causing seizures such as laughter, or X-wire stimulation surgery, deep brain stimulation surgery. Surgery to treat seizures is also very effective, helping to reduce seizures by 50-60%.

 

Currently, the Epilepsy Club at VDUH is a place where patients can share and learn information about the disease. In this club, there are many patients who have had successful epilepsy surgery and returned to normal life. There is a person who has entered Hanoi National University of Education after surgery. Besides, there are many younger members like the case of N.T.T (8 years old) with drug-resistant epilepsy due to complex lesions. T discovered the disease at since he was 1, treated everywhere by his family but did not reduce, he had continuous seizures, when taking the drug, he still had 2-3 attacks/day. After a successful operation in December 2020, T’s condition is stable, continues to use medication and does not have any more seizures.

 

According to Assoc. Prof. Dong Van He, Vice Director of VDUH, Director of Neurosurgery Center, currently, many people have misunderstood or misconceptions about epilepsy such as thinking it is a mental or genetic disease. Therefore, it greatly affects patients, making them self-conscious not to go to treatment or patient’s family to hide the disease for fear of shame and objection. Worryingly, if patients are not diagnosed, treated early and properly, or treated inadequately, they will drop out of treatment for more serious illnesses and find it difficult to integrate into the community due to stigma from those around them. People with epilepsy, if treated early, can be treated with drugs or surgery, and up to 80-90% of patients recover completely without seizures. Epilepsy is not as dangerous as many people imagine; the idea of people with disease are unable to work is wrong. This is a benign disease, can be cured easily when detected early, they still study and work like normal people.

 

Epilepsy surgery has been carried out for many years at VDUH. Along with a system of modern equipment such as: microsurgery glasses, intraoperative nerve positioning, intraoperative 3D cortical mapping as well as a team of doctors specialized in epilepsy surgery, hospital is always up-to-date with the most modern methods of the world, continuous training from foreign experts such as the French Epilepsy Society, the Asian Epilepsy Society, doctors always try their best to bring the highest quality of treatment and beneficial for epilepsy patients.