06:10 PM PST on Thursday, November 10, 2005

By JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

For about 30 percent of epilepsy patients, medications don't work. Surgery is an option for them, but often requires not one, but two invasive operations. The first is to locate where the seizures are coming from, the second to remove that portion of the brain causing the problem.

KING

Angela wears the cap that has 256 electrodes to monitor seizures.

Now, doctors at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center hope to eliminate that first surgery.

Angela Maxwell is the first patient in the country to undergo testing. The seizures started when she was eight.

"I actually missed a lot of elementary school,” she said.

Medications didn't help.

“I think I've tried everything,” she said. Then there were the side effects.

“She had hair loss, she had a lot of weight gain and her hand was so shaky she could not sign her name,” said her mother Rebecca Lombardo.

Angela's seizures don't show up well on a standard brain scan.

"We could stand by the bedside and say, ‘This has to be a seizure,’ then look at the EEG and not see anything,'” said Dr. John Miller at the University of Washington Regional Epilepsy Center at Harborview.

For patients like Angela, the next step is usually surgical brain monitoring, where holes are drilled into the skull. But doctors at Harborview are hoping to avoid that with a special cap with 256 electrodes compared to the old method, which has only 25 electrodes. It’s the only hospital in the country now using it to map seizures.

“We can see very precisely the areas of the brain where the seizures are coming from,” Miller said.

Angela said this is the first times she's ever looked forward to a hospital visit.

“It's such a relief to actually know that we're coming close,” she said.

Family and friends are hopeful.

“Even though she's done a great job of not letting it negatively affect her, it's just a load off for both of us that she won't have to deal with this, or might not, hopefully deal with it again at some point in the future,” said her boyfriend Andrew White.

Angela is even more optimistic about her future.

“I know I'll be able to do anything, there's no limits, it’s very exciting,” she said.

Doctors are still analyzing Angela's results, but are confident they'll finally be able to pinpoint the location of her seizures.

Harborview will be testing the geodesic sensor net for the next year.

For more information call (206) 731-3576 or click on the above links.