Epilepsy, convulsive seizures caused by disturbed electrical rhythms in the brain, affects 1-2% of the population of the United States. In some patients, seizures arise from parts of the brain related to language ability and memory. A Cornell-sponsored research partnership between Dr. Theodore Schwartz, Department of Neurosurgery, and Chris Schaffer, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell-Ithaca, is investigating a more refined approach for treating epilepsy surgically.

Not widely known, surgery can serve as a cure for epilepsy when medicines are unable to control seizures. Traditionally, doctors first localize the focal point in the brain that is causing the seizures using grids of electrodes, then that particular portion of the brain is surgically removed. Although these techniques work most of the time, the electrodes can be misleading and the surgery is destructive with the possibility of neurological injury.

Dr. Schwartz, Director of the Epilepsy Research Laboratory, is working with Dr. Schaffer to develop more advanced tools to manage epilepsy localization and surgery using precise state-of-the-art optical techniques. Rather than rely on electrodes, Dr. Schwartz is able to map the onset and spread of epilepsy using small changes in reflection of light, which may be more sensitive and provide additional information not seen with the electrodes. Dr. Schaffer is developing a high-energy femtosecond laser system to produce sub-surface laser-guided incisions in the cortex. These techniques give researchers the ability to make small focal cuts in specific layers of the brain without damaging its blood vessels of functional capabilities.

On the horizon: The team looks to the future when one day a "robot-guided" tool could "target" cuts to a specific layer in the cortex.