Health Care Notes: Epilepsy treatment piloted at VUMC

Vanderbilt University Medical Center has implanted its first patient with a neuromodular stimulation in an effort to treat drug-resistant idiopathic generalized epilepsy. The Responsive Neurostimulation has been used before to treat focal epilepsy, the most common form, though IGE makes up 15 to 30 percent of epilepsies.  

IGE is diagnosed in childhood or adolescence and often results in lifelong seizures which cause loss of consciousness and often injuries from seizure-related falls. There are currently no FDA-approved devices to treat it, according to a press release.