德克萨斯州综合癫痫计划的医生领导22岁的泰勒居民癫痫发作自由

伊丽莎白·绅士（Elisabeth Gentry）自从小孩以来就经历了光环，但她并没有得知她的嘴里偶尔会带来奇怪的口味，而即将来临的厄运的感觉直到2015年，直到她15岁，并遭受了大玛尔的癫痫发作。

Regardless, the Tyler native went on to teach yoga, continue singing, and live life normally. She later enrolled at Belmont University, pursuing a degree in music business. However, the seizures worsened and became much more frequent, disrupting Gentry’s everyday life.

“I was having at least one seizure a day every day. They’d last about 45 seconds, I’d drool, and then I’d fall asleep immediately afterward,” said Gentry, now 22. “It got so bad that I decided to drop out of Belmont and stay near my family.”

绅士拜访了多个神经科医生，他们以各种剂量开了不同的药物，但没有任何效果。一位医生甚至告诉她，她一生都会癫痫发作，这对绅士来说是一个艰难的药丸。

But her father wouldn’t take no for an answer. He scoured the internet for epilepsy care and came across the德克萨斯综合癫痫计划，之间的合作UTHealth Houston和纪念赫尔曼 - 特克萨斯医疗中心。根据其网站，该中心的癫痫手术计划是美国最繁忙的计划，这是美国最繁忙的，被美国癫痫中心协会指定为4级计划。

与该计划联系后不久，Gentry看到了导演Samden Lhatoo，医学博士，神经科医生，教授，约翰·P·凯瑟琳·麦戈文（John G.

它以癫痫发作为特征于大脑的结构，称为海马或其周围区域，它是局灶性癫痫的最常见形式（重复癫痫发作会影响大脑的一半），占所有颞叶癫痫发作的80％。

Lhatoo found abnormal scarring in the hippocampus of Gentry’s brain, explaining the likely cause of her epilepsy. The EMU evaluation confirmed the seizures were probably coming from this scarring or from very close by. It also meant Gentry would presumably benefit from surgery, Lhatoo said.

“一个pproach is to be minimally invasive so that you’re less likely to disturb the brain structures that are not involved in the seizure genesis,” Lhatoo said. “It’s a myth that we only use 10% of our brain – we use all of it, so the idea is to not damage any part of the brain that doesn’t need to be, especially the areas that control cognition, language and memory.”

Lhatoo绅士指Nitin Tandon, MD, professor and chair ad interim of the Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School and co-director, as well as director of epilepsy surgery, at UTHealth Houston Neurosciences.

Tandon确定Gentry是全国性立体定向激光消融的可行候选者，用于颞叶癫痫（Slate）试验，该试验评估了Medtronic资助设备在成人中使用药物耐药的耐静脉内叶癫痫在成人进行激光消融方面的安全性和功效。由Tandon在当地领导，该研究仍在休斯顿Uthealth招募患者。

In August 2020, Gentry underwent a laser ablation surgery of her hippocampus. This partly resolved her issue, but not completely, which led, in January 2022, to stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) – a minimally invasive procedure in which Tandon placed electrodes in Gentry’s brain to identify the areas where her epileptic seizures were originating – and found that they were coming from her amygdala, a brain structure right next to the hippocampus.

“一个mygdala is the emotion nucleus of the brain, where you experience fear, anger, and, to some extent, pleasure. It’s also tied to memory,” said Tandon, who is also the Nancy, Clive and Pierce Runnells Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience of the Vivian L. Smith Center for Neurologic Research. “Elisabeth’s case is a good example of what we do in these slightly more complex cases. Increasingly, laser ablation is becoming one of the most common approaches to this type of epilepsy. Our center is a world leader in epilepsy care, and we have a host of new technologies to address the various causes of epilepsy.”

In February 2022, Gentry underwent a laser ablation of her amygdala. Since the second surgery, she’s been seizure-free.

“One should not tolerate ongoing seizures as a fact of life,” said Lhatoo, who plans to reduce Gentry’s medication starting February 2023. “Patients need a comprehensive, modern-day assessment of their seizures at a Level 4 center because a lot of the time, we can find the causes or locations of the seizures, which can be dealt with via minimally invasive surgery that can lead to the prospect of long-term seizure freedom and total cessation of medication.”

Perhaps no one appreciates that more than Gentry, who is now able to drive and is working as a full-time nanny and renting a house, where she lives with her golden retriever, two cats, and pet turtle.

“I would give my life to these doctors because they literally saved my life,” Gentry said. “I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have seizures, thanks to these brilliant people. Never give up hope, because there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

有关板岩试验的更多信息，请访问clinicaltrials.gov。

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