Health risks of uncontrolled seizures

Scientists have made an important breakthrough in the treatment of epilepsy especially for patients who do not respond to common medicines.

An experimental gene therapy delivered directly into the brain reduced the number of monthly seizures by more than 90% in patients who received the treatment. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, examined the effects of this new treatment in three adult patients.

The treatment uses a modified virus to carry genetic material to a specific area of the brain where seizures begin. This helps control unusual electrical activity in affected nerve cells which can trigger epileptic seizures.

Around 600,000 people in the UK are living with epilepsy. However medicines do not work effectively for about one in every three patients. This condition is known as drug resistant epilepsy.

According to medical experts uncontrolled seizures can increase the risk of serious injuries problems with memory and thinking skills, and even premature death.

This makes finding new treatment options especially important. Experts consider this research a promising step forward in the treatment of epilepsy and other brain related conditions.

However larger clinical trials and long term studies are still needed to confirm how safe and effective the treatment is.

These early findings offer hope to people who do not benefit from traditional epilepsy medicines.  In the future gene therapy could provide a new treatment option for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.