Epilepsy Battery
  Health Guide Brain and Nerve Surgery (Neurosurgery)
How common is epilepsy in the community?
How is epilepsy treated?
What is resistant epilepsy?
What is epilepsy pacemaker surgery? How is it applied?
How does an epilepsy pacemaker stop seizures?
What is a smart epilepsy battery?
Is epilepsy pacemaker surgery a risky surgery?
When can one return to normal life after epilepsy surgery?
After the epilepsy battery is inserted, do the seizures go away completely?
Are medications completely discontinued after epilepsy surgery?
Which epilepsy patients are suitable for epilepsy pacemaker surgery?
How long does an epilepsy battery last?
What kind of surgery is battery replacement performed when the epilepsy battery is depleted?
How common is epilepsy in the community?
Epilepsy disease is seen at a rate not as low as 1% in the society. It is known that there are 850,000 epilepsy patients in our country.

How is epilepsy treated?
Treatment of epilepsy depends on the cause of the disease. In most of the epilepsy patients, a problem such as any staining, tumor or vascular lump in the brain does not appear. If there is an epileptic condition due to a mass or staining in the brain, the basic treatment is to remove this region that causes epilepsy by open surgery. In epilepsy patients with normal brain imaging, drug therapy is the priority.

What is resistant epilepsy?
Seizures are controlled with medication in 60-65% of epilepsy patients. However, seizures that cannot be stopped or controlled continue despite the use of single or multiple drugs in 35-40% of the patients. Patients whose seizures continue despite using at least two different types of seizure drugs at the same time in appropriate and effective dosages for at least two years are called resistant epilepsy patients.

What is epilepsy pacemaker surgery? How is it applied?
Epilepsy pacemaker surgery (vagal nerve stimulation) is a method applied in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. In epilepsy pacing surgery, a cable is inserted into a nerve (vagal nerve) in the neck region with a microsurgical method and the other end of the cable is delivered to the chest area so that it is not visible from the outside. The connection of the battery and the cable is provided in the chest area, and the battery is placed in the pocket formed a little below the collarbone. It is an operation that takes an average of 1 hour.

How does an epilepsy pacemaker stop seizures?
With the epilepsy battery, electrical energy is given to the nerve in the neck region at very low currents. These electrical signals reach the brain and it is tried to prevent the uncontrolled intercellular electrical discharges that cause epilepsy in the brain.

What is a smart epilepsy battery?
The smart epilepsy battery detects the onset of seizures by controlling the pulse rates of the patients, and quickly takes action to suppress the seizure during this process. The smart epilepsy battery is a high-tech system that aims to stop the seizure or reduce the severity of the seizure.

Is epilepsy pacemaker surgery a risky surgery?
Epilepsy pacemaker surgery is a low-risk surgery used in the treatment of refractory epilepsy patients and performed without opening the skull.

When can one return to normal life after epilepsy surgery?
After the operation, the patients start to eat at the 4th hour and walk at the 6th hour, and they are discharged the next day of the operation. After discharge, they can quickly return to their normal lives.

After the epilepsy battery is inserted, do the seizures go away completely?
The main purpose of epilepsy battery surgery; It is to control resistant seizures that cannot be controlled with drugs with battery therapy added to the drug. The primary goal is not to stop seizures completely or to stop seizure medications completely.

Are medications completely discontinued after epilepsy surgery?
No. Epilepsy pacemaker surgery is a treatment applied in addition to medications. Patients' follow-up and battery adjustments are made at regular intervals by neurologists. In these follow-ups, medication adjustments are made according to the number and severity of seizures.

Which epilepsy patients are suitable for epilepsy pacemaker surgery?
Patients are evaluated according to the results of all tests performed by a committee consisting of Neurology, Psychiatry and Neurosurgery physicians. Epilepsy pacemaker surgery is performed in patients who are not suitable for open surgery, in patients who have not benefited from open surgery, or in epilepsy patients who do not accept this surgery because of the high risk of open surgery.

How long does an epilepsy battery last?
It has an average battery life of 4-7 years.

What kind of surgery is battery replacement performed when the epilepsy battery is depleted?
Under local anesthesia, only the wound in the chest area where the battery is located is opened and the old battery is removed and the new battery is inserted. Patients are discharged 1 hour after battery replacement surgery.