romeotuma wrote: 
So is this a good translation to English:

A study of children who have had an operation to remove a part of the brain to stop or improve a type of epilepsy caused by 'Focal Cortical Dysplasia'.  149 patients who had the surgery were studied and the aim was to find what factors increased/decreased the chances of a positive outcome.  The only large positive factor was the surgery completely removing the relevant part of the brain.  The negative factor was if the parts of the brain were overlapped.  Lots of other things were studied and found to be insignificant: age at seizure onset, duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, associated pathologies including hippocampal sclerosis, extent of EEG and MRI abnormalities, as well as extent and localization of resections.

This is from January 2009...

Incomplete resection of focal cortical dysplasia is the main predictor of poor postsurgical outcome.

Department of Pediatric Neurology, Charles University, Second Medical School, Motol University Hospital, V Uvalu 84, CZ 15006 Prague 5, Czech Republic. pavel.krsek@post.cz

BACKGROUND: Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is recognized as the major cause of focal intractable epilepsy in childhood. Various factors influencing postsurgical seizure outcome in pediatric patients with FCD have been reported. OBJECTIVE: To analyze different variables in relation to seizure outcome in order to identify prognostic factors for selection of pediatric patients with FCD for epilepsy surgery. METHODS: A cohort of 149 patients with histologically confirmed mild malformations of cortical development or FCD with at least 2 years of postoperative follow-up was retrospectively studied; 113 subjects had at least 5 years of postoperative follow-up. Twenty-eight clinical, EEG, MRI, neuropsychological, surgical, and histopathologic parameters were evaluated. RESULTS: The only significant predictor of surgical success was completeness of surgical resection, defined as complete removal of the structural MRI lesion (if present) and the cortical region exhibiting prominent ictal and interictal abnormalities on intracranial EEG. Unfavorable surgical outcomes are mostly caused by overlap of dysplastic and eloquent cortical regions. There were nonsignificant trends toward better outcomes in patients with normal intelligence, after hemispherectomy and with FCD type II. Other factors such as age at seizure onset, duration of epilepsy, seizure frequency, associated pathologies including hippocampal sclerosis, extent of EEG and MRI abnormalities, as well as extent and localization of resections did not influence outcome. Twenty-five percent of patients changed Engel's class of seizure outcome after the second postoperative year. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to define and fully excise the entire region of dysplastic cortex is the most powerful variable influencing outcome in pediatric patients with focal cortical dysplasia.

This is absolutely fantastic, folks...  priceless...

Epilepsy— Insights & Strategies, Issue 1, April 2009

excellent article...

In the Grip of the Unknown

some data about NeuroPace treatment for epilepsy

RNS System Clinical Research Study

NeuroPace homepage

Here is a true football hero—

Falcons' Snelling raises awareness of epilepsy

MCG Comprehensive Adult Epilepsy Program

"Our mission is to control or eliminate seizures in adult and pediatric patients by providing efficient, comprehensive, high-level care..."

Folks, this is data to share with any female epileptics you might know—

"Catamenial (from the Greek kata, by; men, month) epilepsy refers to seizure exacerbation in relation to the menstrual cycle. Traditionally, the term has been used to refer to seizure exacerbation at the time of menstruation. This section discusses the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of women with catamenial epilepsy..."

basically, it is an exacerbation of seizures in the menstrual cycle during two transitions when there is a change in the ratio between estrogen and progesterone and estrogen increases... estrogen causes seizures and progesterone fights seizures...

catamenial epilepsy

Also, this is something a woman has pointed out— "Harden et al. studied the course of epilepsy specifically during menopause and perimenopause. Perimenopause was defined as the onset of irregular menses with or without 'hot flashes,' and natural menopause was defined as at least 1 year without menstruation. In this study, perimenopause was associated with an increase in seizures in the majority of subjects."

Perimenopause, or menopause transition, is the stage of a woman's reproductive life that begins several years before menopause, when the ovaries gradually begin to produce less estrogen... it usually starts in a woman's 40s, but can start in the 30s as well...

"This is a Must Segment for everyone interested in the Genetics of Epilepsy. Co-hosts Dr. Daniel Lowenstein and Dr. Orrin Devinsky talk about the largest research study ever created to understand how genetics influences epilepsy. The Epilepsy Phenome/Genome Project is a collaborative effort among some of the country's leading epileptologists and the National Institutes of Health to investigate the causes of epilepsy and the differences in how people respond to anti-seizure medication. Dr. Lowenstein is the Professor and Vice Chairman of the UCSF Department of Neurology, and Dr. Orrin Devinsky is the Co-Founder of the Epilepsy Therapy Project and Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry and Director, NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center."

Epilepsy Talk Radio

Blast from the past?

The Generic Drug Scandal
Published: October 2, 1989
The New York Times

These are bad times for generic drug makers and their regulators. Three officials of the Food and Drug Administration have pleaded guilty to receiving bribes, and two generic drug companies have admitted to providing false data. Now, after a new scandal involving defective generic drugs for epilepsy, Representative John Dingell says he's lost confidence in the industry's integrity and the F.D.A.'s ability to ensure safe drugs.

The F.D.A. depends almost wholly on industry's trustworthiness to regulate some 25 percent of the nation's consumer economy. In the field of generic drugs, this faith has been abused.

Generic drugs contain the identical chemical as brand-name drugs and are marketed, usually at a fraction of the cost, when their brand-name equivalents come to the end of their patent life. The generic drug industry has expanded rapidly since 1984 as part of a legislative deal that let generic drugs be approved more quickly in return for some patented drugs receiving longer patent protection.

When a drug comes off patent, enormous profits can be gained by the company that gets its generic version approved first. When Mylan Laboratories Inc. of Pittsburgh felt its applications were being deliberately held up in the F.D.A. approval process, it hired private detectives who discovered an F.D.A. official had accepted bribes from a competitor.

There seem to be several reasons for the lapse. Under the Reagan Administration, which showed little generosity toward regulatory agencies, the F.D.A.'s staff shrank by 9 percent. The regulations that would implement the 1984 law giving quicker approval to generic drugs have still not been issued. In their place, favoritism has thrived. Complaining companies found no clear avenue for their protests. The F.D.A. lacks an inspector general and has always resisted oversight from its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services. The culture of the agency has always favored cooperation with drug companies on a scientist-to-scientist basis, instead of enforcement and compliance. This trust has been sorely abused by the companies that bribed the agency's officials and passed off brand-name drugs as their own for the F.D.A.'s tests.

Frank Young, the F.D.A. Commissioner, has reorganized the agency's generic drug division and appointed an ombudsman. This is a first step but hardly sufficient. Since its honor system has been so grievously breached, the agency needs to impress all drug companies with its intention of making more thorough checks of the data submitted. So much money is at stake that falsification and bribery are constant dangers.

The generic drug industry needs also to take the lead in policing its own members. The industry has been a potent force in keeping down the high price of drugs, and medical costs will rocket if the industry fails to overcome the doubts that may now be raised about its products.

from Neurology Now
Medical Marijuana Thu, 30 Aug 2007 19:36:43 +0000

My husband and I are both in favor of the medicinal use of marijuana. My husband has severe peripheral neuropathy in his legs and feet. His kidneys are now only functioning at 38 percent, and his doctors have taken him off all his anti-inflammatory pain relievers because of his kidneys. The doctors don't want to prescribe oxycotin because of all the media exposure. He doesn't have any choices of pain relief except alcohol, which he is against because of family history of alcoholism. Marijuana would be his best alternative.

I have multiple sclerosis, but. I don't have any insurance, and it would be a lot less expensive for my husband and me to be able to purchase marijuana for pain relief.

-Debbie Hoover