When it comes to epilepsy, there is a stubborn belief that it is an “incurable disease”. Once affected, patients have to take medication for the rest of their lives, and even if they are careful, they cannot stop the irregular and unpredictable seizures. It is like a time bomb planted in life, usually erupting regardless of time and occasion, with patients foaming at the mouth, convulsions and confusion …… suffering from such a disease, how can people not be anxious? Some people say that although epilepsy is not as life-threatening as a tumor, it is a pervasive interference in life. Once a person suffers from epilepsy, the rhythm of life is not in his or her control. All the rights of a normal person to study, work, and socialize …… are taken away by it, and all that remains is to take medication, just the fear of not knowing when the onset will occur, and not knowing how to face the uncomprehending eyes around. According to statistics, the prevalence of epilepsy in China is about 5‰ to 7‰, and there are about 8-9 million epilepsy patients in China who rely on long-term medication to control their condition. Among them, only 70% of patients for whom drugs are effective, 30% of patients taking drugs are ineffective or ineffective and belong to intractable epilepsy. Yang Zhongxu, the director, said that this part of the patient is relatively painful, the family and the patient himself are under great mental pressure, but the fact is that about 80% of patients with intractable epilepsy can be surgically intervened, and the efficiency can be as high as 75-85%. Taking medication that does not work for two years can be classified as intractable epilepsy “Patients with epilepsy can be classified as intractable epilepsy if they have been taking regular systemic medication for more than two years but have poor results, have about one to two seizures per month, or have liver and intellectual damage caused by antiepileptic drugs that seriously affect their life and work.” Yang Zhongxu, director of the Epilepsy Surgery Center of the Fourth Central Hospital, pointed out that the reasons for their drug resistance are not only related to irregular medication, but also to problems with the neurons themselves that form the epileptic foci. Usually 80% of patients with intractable epilepsy meet the indications for surgery. He said an average of 25,000 to 30,000 epilepsy patients need surgical intervention each year in China, but the annual volume of surgeries nationwide is only a few thousand cases, accounting for less than one-third. “Many people have fears when they mention open-heart surgery, thinking that there will be sequelae once the surgery is performed.” But, surgery has proven to be a more effective and safe method of treatment for intractable epilepsy. After a large number of case statistics show that the efficiency of epilepsy surgery in 75% to 85%. Miss Liu, 26 years old, discovered she had epilepsy six years ago. After graduating from college, she had just raised the sail of life was scared by this sudden disease, she felt that the sunshine of life disappeared. With such a disease, there is no hope for future studies, work, love, friendship, life is only the torture brought by the disease. Because of her outstanding achievements, she found a job that was the envy of the people. However, one day she fell ill while working in the unit and became confused and collapsed on the floor, foaming at the mouth. Her colleagues and leaders were terrified by her appearance, and when she got better, they sent her home to rest for a while. A promising job was lost. In October 2009, she came to the Epilepsy Surgery Center of the Fourth Central Hospital and asked Director Yang Zhongxu to perform surgery for her. After examining her, Director Yang believed that her disease could be cured after surgery. Before the surgery, she joked with the doctors, “I must be cured during the November holiday, because I have found a new job and will work in 7 days! A confident smile hung on her sweet face. During the surgery, Director Yang removed five structures in turn, cutting off the transverse fibers of the discharge cortex, and removing the hippocampus, amygdala, discharge temporal pole, and small lesions of the temporal lobe. Two days after the surgery, Ms. Liu recovered. After six months, she had no more attacks. As she wished, she found a better job and set sail again on her life path. Director Yang said that the significance of surgical treatment for many adolescent epilepsy patients like Ms. Liu is huge. They can have the disease completely eradicated and be free from the worries of the disease in the long road of life in the future. They can study, work, get married, make friends and enjoy a normal life like normal people. Since September 2009, when the Epilepsy Surgery Center of the Fourth Central Hospital, the first epilepsy surgery center in Tianjin, was established, more than 200 epilepsy patients from all over the country have been treated and have undergone preoperative examination and evaluation and surgery one after another, with a surgical efficiency of 100%. Many readers may ask whether all epilepsy is suitable for surgery. Director Yang said that in clinical practice, he often encounters some epilepsy patients who ask doctors to definitely perform surgery for them. When communicating with doctors, family members also say, “No matter what the cost, you must do this surgery for him.” Many of them came from far away to seek medical treatment in Tianjin. However, it should be clear that not all epilepsy patients are suitable for surgical treatment, and even if they are reluctantly operated, the treatment effect will not reach the patient’s expectation. Therefore, before performing surgery for epilepsy patients, Director Yang will inform the patient of the effect of treatment, whether it is a complete cure, or effective control, or surgery is not very meaningful, and these real situations must be promptly informed to the patient and family. Director Yang introduced that epilepsy suitable for surgery is drug-refractory intractable epilepsy with disabling frequent seizures of more than 1 per month; the duration of the disease is generally more than 2 years and the results are poor should be considered for surgery. For infants and children, especially catastrophic epilepsy, which affects the development of the brain, surgery should be performed earlier. Surgery may also be considered if the patient develops or cannot tolerate the toxic side effects associated with antiepileptic drugs. Surgery should be performed in patients with secondary epilepsy, with an identified foci of seizure origin, provided that it is determined that the surgery does not cause loss of vital functions. Surgery is contraindicated in patients with progressive neurological disease (e.g., malignancy, multiple sclerosis, cerebral vasculitis), severe medical disease, and psychiatric disorders. ”To perform epilepsy surgery, preoperative evaluation is very important – including determination of surgical indications, feasibility of surgery, choice of surgical approach, and prediction of surgical outcome. This requires a comprehensive assessment of the clinical characteristics of the patient’s seizures, electrophysiological examination (including various EEGs), neuroimaging (CT, MRI, PET, magnetoencephalography), neuropsychology, etc., to lateralize and localize the epileptic focus, and those whose two or more assessment items match are more suitable for surgery.” Director Yang reminded that the formal treatment of epilepsy must be developed through a comprehensive assessment. These require a high level of inspection tools and physician skills, and patients should take these into account before choosing a hospital. The advantages of surgical treatment are significant There are many traditional methods of treating epilepsy, such as medication, “buried wire therapy”, etc. However, these methods are difficult to completely cure, and can only relieve the symptoms of epilepsy. Compared to long-term drug control, many patients with intractable seizures and ineffective drug treatment can be treated with surgical procedures, which only take one or two hours. Currently, in clinical observations at the Epilepsy Surgery Center of the Fourth Central Hospital, surgical procedures such as epileptogenic foci resection are performed on epilepsy patients with far greater efficiency than medication alone and other treatment modalities. According to statistics, the efficiency of surgical treatment of epilepsy is 75%-85%. The first thing you need to do is to get a good idea of what you are getting into. The reporter also consulted with the director of Yang Zhongxu. Theoretically, the surgery will not affect the brain function. The reason is that once the epileptogenic focus is discharged, the surrounding cerebral cortex will be affected. It is like a building, the whole building is dark because of a short circuit in one of the rooms, if you control it by making that one room dark, you can exchange it for the brightness of other rooms. In the same way, identifying the epileptic focus and removing it can be replaced with an overall normal brain function. Functional areas of the cerebral cortex that are damaged will show the appropriate symptoms, such as visual areas being removed and not being able to see. Surgical removal of epileptogenic foci in non-functional areas of the cerebral cortex does not result in neurological dysfunction. Therefore, if the epileptic focus is located in a functional area, it cannot simply be removed, but of course, there are ways to deal with it; if the epileptic focus is located in a non-functional area, it should be removed as much as possible. Intractable epilepsy is not incurable; the key is early diagnosis and regular treatment.