Marcelo Budke (Neurosurgeon) and Antonio Gil-Nagel (Neurologist) have successfully performed several laser therapy interventions on patients with focal epilepsy refractory to treatment with antiepileptic drugs.
This minimally invasive technique makes it possible to eliminate the epileptic focus, reducing the risks of conventional surgery and the recovery period.
The treatment is performed by introducing a laser probe through a 3 mm diameter hole. The laser probe makes it possible to destroy the epileptic focus by applying controlled laser energy, while the result is simultaneously monitored by brain magnetic resonance imaging. This avoids damaging healthy regions of the brain near the epileptic focus, selectively eliminating only the epileptic tissue.
This technique allows many patients to be operated in a more precise and less invasive way than with conventional surgery, reducing the risk of hemorrhage and infection. The procedure is performed under general anesthesia, requiring one or two days of hospitalization, and recovery is also a few days.
It is being applied in lesions with a diameter of 3 cm or less, but it is also possible to use it in larger lesions, for which it may be necessary to perform it in several sessions.
The Epilepsy Surgery Unit is made up of a large and experienced team. Dr. Marcelo Budke, neurosurgeon specialized in epilepsy, is the one who performs the intervention. He has extensive experience in epilepsy surgery, endoscopic surgery, implantation of deep electrodes and management of the laser ablation system. Dr. Antonio Gil-Nagel, and the neurologists of his team (Drs. Rafael Toledano, Angel Aledo and Irene García Morales), select the appropriate treatment after locating the epileptic focus. To do so, they integrate the symptoms of each patient with neurophysiology and multimodal brain imaging techniques.
Drs. Budke and Gil-Nagel have been this week on the program “What’s wrong with me doctor” explaining their experience in treating epileptic patients. You can see them explaining the technique and their experience in this video:
Dr. Antonio Gil-Nagel – Director of the Epilepsy Program of the Neurology Department of the Ruber Internacional Hospital in Madrid.
Dr. Marcelo Budke – Neurosurgeon in charge of the Epilepsy Surgery Unit of the Neurology Department of the Ruber Internacional Hospitalin Madrid.
