WebMD Medical News Louise Chang, MD March 6, 2012 -- Brain
surgery is generally considered a last resort for some epilepsy
patients whose seizures are not controlled with drugs, but
performing surgery earlier may prevent years of suffering,
according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical
Association. Only a small percentage of patients with seizures
that can’t be controlled by medications are ever referred to an
epilepsy center that offers surgery. Those who are referred have
often had uncontrolled seizures for several decades. In the new
multi-center study, almost all patients who had surgery much
earlier in the course of their disease were seizure-free two
years later, while none of the patients who did not have surgery
were free of seizures. The study was small, but researchers say
the findings confirm that early surgical intervention offers
certain epilepsy patients the best opportunity to avoid a
lifetime of disability. “There is a misconception that epilepsy
is not serious enough to warr