In almost 70% of the patients with convulsions the convulsions can be controlled by using medication. A wide range of medication is available for convulsion control. When the medication doesn’t have a positive effect on the convulsions, different types of anticonvulsant drugs (AED) can be employed. However, the probability of an AED to be effective decreases with the number of different AEDs tested. Therefore, after trying out for example three different types of drugs, the neurologist may decide to use different treatment strategies. Convulsions that are resistant to drug treatment are called refractory epilepsies. Some patients are treated with a combination of different drugs to control the convulsions.
In case of these refractory epilepsies, …show more content…
The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve that mainly transports information from the body organs to the central nervous system. DeGiorgio et al. [60] showed in their doulbe-blind study on 195 patients that a stimulation of the vagus nerve can reduce the number of convulsions by more than 50% in 35% of the patients. The median reduction of the convulsions was 45%, and in 20% of the patients there was even a reduction of more than 75%. Lulic et al. [125] give an overview of the different clinical studies that are conducted to investigate the effect of VNS treatment on convulsion patients. Cyberonics already commercialized this therapy.
Another alternative method is the ketogenic diet. In this special diet, the consumption of fat is high and carbohydrates is low. The name ketogenic means that it produces ketones in the body. These ketones are formed when the body uses fat as an energy source. In this diet the body changes from burning carbohydrates, as they are only provided in very small amount, to using fat as fuel. A higher level of ketones in the body often lead to an improved convulsion control, although it is not fully clear why this helps in reducing the frequency of
In case of these refractory epilepsies, …show more content…
The vagus nerve is a cranial nerve that mainly transports information from the body organs to the central nervous system. DeGiorgio et al. [60] showed in their doulbe-blind study on 195 patients that a stimulation of the vagus nerve can reduce the number of convulsions by more than 50% in 35% of the patients. The median reduction of the convulsions was 45%, and in 20% of the patients there was even a reduction of more than 75%. Lulic et al. [125] give an overview of the different clinical studies that are conducted to investigate the effect of VNS treatment on convulsion patients. Cyberonics already commercialized this therapy.
Another alternative method is the ketogenic diet. In this special diet, the consumption of fat is high and carbohydrates is low. The name ketogenic means that it produces ketones in the body. These ketones are formed when the body uses fat as an energy source. In this diet the body changes from burning carbohydrates, as they are only provided in very small amount, to using fat as fuel. A higher level of ketones in the body often lead to an improved convulsion control, although it is not fully clear why this helps in reducing the frequency of