A medical team from the Memorial Neuroscience Institute has successfully implanted its first NeuroPace’s RNS® System technology into the skull of a 45-year-old patient with epilepsy to help reduce the frequency of seizures.
Physicians at the Institute – part of the Memorial Healthcare System – describe the award-winning technology as being similar to a heart pacemaker but for the brain.
The innovative procedure benefits epilepsy patients who have tried extensive amounts of medications but still suffer from frequent and disabling seizures.
"This is a promising new option for patients who have seizures that medication can’t control," said Tarek Zakaria, M.D., Medical Director of Memorial’s Adult Neurology Program. "It is the latest component that makes us a true comprehensive, high-level epilepsy center."
Christopher DeMassi, M.D., the neurosurgeon who performed the successful surgery, said the procedure involves carefully placing two wire electrodes deep into the brain where the seizures are originating from.
Dr. DeMassi then removes a small part of the patient’s skull and implants a microprocessor-control device that is attached to the two leads. Dr. DeMassi said the system targets specific areas in the brain down to millimeters of where the seizures are coming from.
