Evaluation of epilepsy through imaging

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain helps assess patients with seizures for suitability for surgery.
In functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI), the way the brain is working in real time can be assessed. A team at Miami Children's Hospital now reports that f-MRI has been useful in examining a group of 60 patients with a seizure disorder or epilepsy.

One treatment for epilepsy is surgery, especially for those who do not respond to medication for their seizures. But assessing the brain areas that ought to be targeted for surgery normally involves invasive tests.

With f-MRI, the affected brain areas can be more readily identified, according to this study. Five of the patients were able to be given a simpler operation, thanks to the imaging. With others, it was apparent that surgery would not be helpful. In other cases, surgery could be done more accurately. Clearly f-MRI is a powerful technique for helping patients with epilepsy get the most out of surgical treatment.

Source
Radiology July 2005

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