Epilepsy treatment side effect: New insights about the brain

[Judi Lynn]

Carla K. Johnson and Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press
Updated 11:23 am CST, Tuesday, February 11, 2020

SEATTLE (AP) — Though Genette Hofmann is still using her brain, last month she donated a bit of it — to science.

Hofmann needed the surgery — her Seattle surgeon was looking deep into her brain, where he found the trigger for the epileptic seizures that had disrupted her life for 30 years. But to get there, he teased out a bit of healthy tissue the size of a lima bean, and with her blessing quickly sent it to some researchers, who were eager to study brain cells while they were still alive.

That's how Hofmann joined a long line of epilepsy patients who’ve helped scientists reveal basic secrets of the brain — knowledge that could pay off in better ways to measure consciousness in brain-injury patients and new treatments for a variety of diseases.

Research volunteers such as Ruth Nall, who made a different kind of contribution in a California hospital room, reading sentences aloud as a network of surgically implanted sensors kept close track of how her brain worked.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/medical/article/Epilepsy-treatment-side-effect-New-insights-15047366.php