OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital Pharmacist Celebrates Three Years of Being Seizure Free
An OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital pharmacist is celebrating three years of being seizure-free, thanks to a brain surgery procedure performed at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital.
Brian George had partial epilepsy. He had his first seizure as a baby, and they returned in his teenage years. For more than 20 years, George had to plan his escape route in case he felt a seizure coming on.
"You adapt," Brian told Mansfield News Journal Reporter Zach Tuggle. "You're always thinking, 'What if I have one?' You’re in a new environment, it’s like ‘OK, where's the exit? Where's the bathroom? How can I get out of here if I have one?’ I used to always hate getting on an airplane."
George's seizures were typically pretty mild. He would feel nauseous right before one hit, and immediately look for a bathroom.
"The last conscious thought I'd have was 'You're going to be sick,'" George said. "Then, 30 seconds, 45 seconds later, I'd come out of it and I'd be fine."
As time passed, and George's seizures began to become more frequent, Gubert Tan, MD, neurologist at Mansfield Hospital, recommended George consider laser interstitial thermal therapy, or laser ablation.
Laser ablation can treat partial epilepsy caused by a small portion of the brain, according to Emily Klatte, MD, OhioHealth's System Medical Chief for epilepsy.
"The surgeon will drill a small hole in the skull," Klatte told Tuggle. “They deliver heat and it kind of destroys that part of the brain tissue.”
George decided to get an electroencephalogram, also known as an EEG, at the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at Riverside Methodist Hospital.
Cameras and wires monitored his brain activity all weekend, with the hopes of figuring out where his seizures start. He ended up having three. Doctors learned they all started in his right temporal lobe.
The fact that all of George's seizures began in a small portion of his hippocampus made him a perfect candidate for laser ablation.
George ended up having the surgery in 2020, right before elective surgeries were canceled during the pandemic.
Doctors guided a laser catheter through his skull, then delivered heat to destroy the part of his brain tissue causing seizures.
George spent the night at the hospital and returned home the following day.
Now more than three years later, he's been seizure-free ever since. His only regret is not doing the surgery sooner.
"Looking back, I wonder why I waited so long," George said. "Obviously after the fact it's easier."
George recommends anyone living with partial epilepsy talk to their doctor about laser ablation. For him, it changed his life.
