Surgical Procedure Offers Hope to Epilepsy Patients

Spectrum Health surgeons can now offer more hope to many patients suffering from epileptic seizures.

According to the national Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. It also is called a seizure disorder. When a person has two or more unprovoked seizures, they are considered to have epilepsy. Seizures happen when clusters of nerve cells in the brain signal abnormally, which may briefly alter a person’s consciousness, movements or actions.

Approximately 2.2 million Americans suffer from epilepsy, according to the recent Institute of Medicine Report on the Epilepsies. One out of 26 people living in the US can expect to develop epilepsy sometime in their life.

Surgery can provide relief to many patients by minimizing or even eliminating the seizures, however, it can be challenging for surgeons to determine exactly where they need to operate to be most effective. A procedure performed at Spectrum Health offers more information to surgeons and more hope for patients.

On June 4, Kost Elisevich, MD, PhD, co-chair, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and chief, Division of Neurosurgery, Spectrum Health Medical Group, surgically implanted electrodes into the head of a patient with seizures unable to be controlled with medications. This enabled physicians to initiate up to a two week monitoring of the patient’s brain activity in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital.

“The electrodes open a window to what is happening in the brain,” said Elisevich. “We watch the patient over a period of two weeks to see exactly where in the brain the seizures are being triggered. Following this, the patient will return to the operating room to have the electrodes removed and to, hopefully, undergo surgery on the portion of the brain where the seizures originate in order to potentially cure his condition.”

Elisevich has performed many of these surgeries in his career, however, this is the first time this procedure has taken place at Spectrum Health. Elisevich will perform his second surgery of this type this week.

Spectrum Health continues to advance in its medical and surgical capability to help patients with epilepsy. Spectrum Health’s comprehensive epilepsy program was the first in West Michigan to be designated a Level 4 epilepsy center by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC). Level 4 is the highest designation established by the NAEC and indicates a fully integrated, comprehensive epilepsy program.

Spectrum Health is the only epilepsy center in West Michigan that provides comprehensive care for both pediatric and adult epilepsy patients.

The inpatient epilepsy monitoring units at Spectrum Health are equipped to help physicians gain information about seizures. The adult epilepsy monitoring unit is located in Butterworth Hospital and the pediatric unit is located in Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. Dual cameras closely watch patients’ facial features and eye movements.

“We are able to use intracranial electrodes to do high frequency sampling and identify unique patterns to help localize seizures. Inpatient monitoring gives us the ability to complete bedside brain mapping with direct electrical stimulation,” says Elisevich.

The team of neuroscience and epilepsy specialists at Spectrum Health continues to expand under the leadership of Elisevich and Brien Smith, MD, co-chair, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and chief, Division of Neurology, Spectrum Health Medical Group. Smith is also the current chair of the national Epilepsy Foundation.

The quality of the epilepsy program at Spectrum Health is reflected by the depth of the medical team’s capabilities in both adult and pediatric epilepsy management and substantial experience and involvement in national trials of new surgical applications.

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan offering a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, which is comprised of nine hospitals including Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, a state of the art children’s hospital that opened in January 2011, and 190 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and West Michigan Heart, physician groups totaling more than 600 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with 600,000 members. Spectrum Health is West Michigan’s largest employer with more than 18,000 employees. The organization provided $176.5 million in community benefit during its 2011 fiscal year.