Learn about the story of this Canarian patient, who arrived at SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital after suffering from over 60 epileptic fits in one day. Neurosurgery with an awake paediatric patient, something very rare, has been successfully performed.
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Gara was diagnosed when she was barely three years old. Since then she has been treated with various drugs that were not useful for controlling her epilepsy long-term.
When Gara was 14 years old her situation worsened. Her fits became increasingly more frequent, and she even collapsed. Her hospital finally referred her to the Refractory Epilepsy Unit at SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital.
The teenager explained that her body had become used to the drugs and she therefore had to find a new solution. The team in the specialist Unit examined whether neurosurgery was viable.
For this, an initial operation was required to implant intracranial electrodes in the teenager. The electrodes, connected to the brain, worked by studying the brain’s activity and monitoring her fits. This enabled them to locate the area that was causing the anomalous activity and analyse if it was possible to remove it.
The team determined that the epilepsy focus involved the area of language comprehension, therefore the possibility of operating on Gara while she was awake during the surgery was put forward, to ensure that this function is preserved. This surgery, never previously performed on a child at SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital, was viable due to the patient’s age and level of maturity.
To perform this complex operation lasting over 6 hours, Gara needed to be briefed about the tasks that would have to be performed during surgery and to psychologically prepare her. They sought to ensure that during surgery with an adolescent patient under local anaesthetic, Gara could read and perform other tasks linked to language. This enabled them to avoid damaging the stimulated areas and only remove those areas where changes were not detected. The role of the expert neurophysiologist was crucial in the success of the surgery.
The operation was carried out as planned. The tests performed until now indicate that the desired result was achieved because, since then, Gara has not experienced another epileptic fit.
16 сен 2018
