Epilepsy

Surgery

SISCOM technology can pinpoint seizure focal points, which show up as green spots in the first two scans and bright yellow in the last scan.

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Although many people can control their seizures effectively with medication, about 30 percent don't benefit from medication because the medication isn't effective or has unacceptable side effects, or both. For many of these people, surgery is the best option for relief.

During typical epilepsy surgery, surgeons remove the portion of the brain that is causing the seizures. While the procedure is relatively safe and quite effective, finding the exact location of the electrical misfiring in the brain that causes seizures can be extremely challenging.

Historically, the results of tests used to look for epilepsy "hot spots" often have been inconclusive or vague. When this occurs, one option in severe cases has been to remove most or all of one side of the brain to ensure removal of all seizure hot spots. This radical surgery can leave serious mental and physical disabilities. In other cases, surgery was eliminated as an option when physicians were unable to pinpoint the hot spot.

An imaging technique developed at Mayo Clinic in the late 1990s has given patients a better chance of having successful surgical outcomes. SISCOM (Subtraction Ictal SPECT Co-registered to MRI) uses proven imaging technology with computer software to pinpoint seizure hot spots so that neurosurgeons can verify the hot spot's anatomic location and remove it safely. Learn more about SISCOM.

One published study showed that SISCOM correctly located seizure hot spots in more than 88 percent of cases, compared with only 39 percent using the older technique.

SISCOM can be used for patients of all ages, and has allowed some operations that may not have been possible before.

Mayo Publications

See published articles on SISCOM by Mayo Clinic doctors on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.