SURGEONS REMOVE HALF OF BOY'S BRAIN (2)

"He's doing exceptionally" Spike's father said. "Although specialist can see some differences in timing of development from his peers, in every other way he is just a normal, happy, healthy child." Researchers have found that for the youngest epilepsy patients for whom medication doesn't work, frontal lobe surgery can stop seizures in many cases. Doctors say the brain essentially rewires itself to compensate for the removed lobe or lobes. Where the seizure originates is essentially damaged and so removing it actually helps the health of the brain. Researchers reviewed 158 patients who underwent frontal lobe epilepsy surgery from 1995 to 2010. They found that patients who had a shorter duration of epilepsy were almost twice as likely to be seizure free. Epilepsy is a chronic medical condition marked by recurrent seizures, an altered brain function caused by abnormal, excessive or electrical discharges from the brain. It affects an estimated 3 million Americans or about one percent of the population. According to the Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Centre, about 1 in 4 patients do not respond to medication, and for the a frontal lobectomy can provide a "cure."