A way to pinpoint seizures

When medications don't work for epilepsy patients, surgery to remove a portion of the brain is often the only option to stop crippling seizures.

But first, doctors need to know exactly where a seizure is happening.

Now new technology is making that much easier.

Pinpointing Seizures

This cap is going to tell doctors exactly where Dawn Helton's seizures are happening in her brain. She's struggled with them for four years.

"I'm scared but excited cause I want them to find out what's going on," says Dawn.

Dawn's the fifth patient in the world to try the new geodesic sensor net. Electrodes record brain waves around the head and let doctors see the seizures as they happen.

"With this method, we might be able to find out where the seizures are coming from exactly and then go right to the operation to take out that area," says Dr. John Miller, a neurologist at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.

The hope is the cap will be used instead of the current invasive method -- where surgeons place electrodes directly on the brain before removing the problem area.

Old systems only used 25 electrodes. This new one uses 256. It can pinpoint the correct area of the brain within two centimeters. Dawn's hoping the precision will pay off for her -- and her boyfriend.

"Let's find it. Let's do it. Let's stop these seizures," she's told during a session.

Because of the seizures, she can no longer work or drive. Sometimes, it's even hard to speak.
"The hoping and sadness of each s-s-s-seizure ... that it's... just wanting it to end," says Dawn.
She hopes what they find today might make the next seizure her last.

An update on dawn -- although the electrodes didn't detect her seizures after eight days of wearing the cap, she's planning on having brain surgery in december.

Dr. Miller says dawn's case is rare.

The cap has worked for nearly all of the patients who have used it -- about 20 so far.