A disorder of the central nervous system, epilepsy occurs with abnormal brain activity that results in seizures. The patient suffers from sensations, unusual behavior, and loss of awareness periodically. Any person can suffer from epilepsy irrespective of ethnicity, gender, age, and race. The symptoms vary from person to person depending upon their condition. While some people experience repeated twitching of their legs or arms, many others keep starting for some time during the seizure. The condition is diagnosed based on the occurrence of two seizures that are at least 24 hours apart.
Stereotactic radiosurgery for epilepsy
One of the emerging treatment options for epilepsy is stereotactic radiosurgery. Cyberknife Radiosurgery presents a therapeutic approach for treating varying types of drug-resistant epilepsy attacks. It also helps in treating epilepsy attacks arising due to the mesial temporal lobe, arteriovenous malformations, and hypothalamic hamartomas. However, the various parameters of radiosurgery differ for each case. These parameters include patient selection, type of epilepsy, dosimetry, expected outcomes, and target volume. Cyberknife Radiosurgery has a prominent role in the treatment of epilepsy as it treats the condition from the cause.
The effects of Cyberknife Radiosurgery on Epilepsy
High energy radiations are targeted towards the epileptic focus by viewing it on the neuroimaging. The neurosurgeon can deliver an accurate and precise amount of radiation without irradiation to any of the nearby normal tissues. The cyberknife system has a non- isocentric pattern of beam delivery with the help of a robotic arm. This arm moves around the patient to deliver radiation from various angles while detecting the motions. It allows for real- time imaging of the anatomy of the patient to obtain the position of the epileptic focus.
How & where to get Cyberknife treatment
Cyberknife Machines are extremely expensive, and operating Cyberknife requires high level of expertise. Thus, it is done at only the most premium hospitals globally. Fortunately, quite a few top hospitals in India have cyberknife and have expert doctors (majorly neurosurgeons & radiation therapists) for the same. We have a listing of the best cyberknife doctors in India who work at India’s finest hospitals and have great expertise in cyberknife. You may also check the cost of cyberknife treatment in India for better planning of treatment.
FAQs
Yes, Cyberknife Radiosurgery can help in treating the seizures with the underlying cause. The radiations are targeted at the lesions for destroying them from different angles.
A seizure may develop when anything interrupts the normal connection of the brain cells. These interruptions may be high or low blood sugar levels, withdrawal of drugs, high fever, brain concussion, and alcohol withdrawal.
No, the seizure episodes resolve after radiation treatment with the Cyberknife system. More than 60% of the patients witnessed seizure-free life a few months after the Cyberknife Radiosurgery.
You must take proper sleep and try to avoid taking the stress for preventing epileptic attacks. If you take meals irregularly, ensure that you eat meals at the proper time and avoid alcohol too. If you consume recreational drugs or suffered from an illness, it increases the chances of epilepsy.
Some forms of epilepsy require treatments to be continued for lifelong to permanently treat the cause. Some types of seizures go away with treatments depending upon their severity.
While epileptic patients can live up to 2-4 years after the diagnosis, patients undergoing Cyberknife Radiosurgery can live for around 10 years.