Anyone heard of this ?

[STEVE.F]

A freind of mine recently told me he has heard of a surgical procedure where the cut out so much of your brain and is very succesful,personaly the very thought gave me the shudders,do you think he is kidding me ? or is it for real ? it sounds very scary.

[Nakamova]

Surgery is considered a last resort when the seizures are severe and don't respond to any other treatment. In addition, the seizures have to originate in a very small focused area, one that can be removed without significantly interfering with normal brain function. There usually is a trade-off -- depending on where the surgery is there can be problems with memory or other abilities. It can be very successful, but it brings its own risks (scarring can lead to more seizures), and usually people still need to take meds afterwards.

You can read about a person who had the surgery here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sp...pagewanted=all

[Cint]

Steve,

I had a left temporal lobectomy back in 1990 and was seizure free for only 14 months. The damaged part of my brain is deep in my hippocampus and they couldn't get the whole section, therefore, I still have seizures. There are other types of brain surgeries and they've improved since 1990. This website explains them:

http://www.epilepsy.com/EPILEPSY/types_surgery