July 17, 2015
MEDICAL UNIVERSITY of SOUTH CAROLINA
Vol. 33, No. 45
Neurosurgeons embrace new technology NeuroBlate treats child’s Treatment helps 27-year-old patient tumor live her life
By Helen Adams Public Relations
By J. Ryne Danielson Public Relations
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llison Sanders, 27, knows well the struggles of living with epilepsy. The condition, which she has dealt with since she was diagnosed at age 19, has affected her life in myriad ways. “Epilepsy has greatly limited my interaction with friends,” Sanders said. “It is embarrassing when I have a seizure in front of someone. I have not been able to drive for quite some time. That has been really hard for me, not being able to get in my car and just go to a store.” The greatest challenge, Sanders said, has been when seizures leave her unaware of her surroundings, disoriented, and unable to remember what happened once the seizure has passed. “Seizures are a big deal for patients,” said neurosurgeon Alex Vandergrift, M.D., who specializes in the treatment of epilepsy. “They usually produce an alteration in the level of consciousness as well as automatisms — non-purposeful, repetitive behaviors such as lip smacking, fumbling or picking of the hands — and they can secondarily generalize, spreading throughout the entire brain and leading to full-body convulsions and shaking of the arms and legs.” Epilepsy can be debilitating and significantly compromise a patient’s independence. Because of the dangers
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photos by Sarah Pack, Public Relations
Elizabeth Novick, left, a Visualase clinical specialist, watches Dr. Alex Vandergrift fine-tune the laser for patient Allison Sanders. A detailed MRI scan showing the path of the Visualse laser (in yellow). Patient Allison Sanders had the procedure July 6 to end her seizures caused by epilepsy. photo provided
associated with seizures, the state of South Carolina prohibits patients diagnosed with epilepsy from obtaining a driver’s license until they have been certified by a doctor as being seizurefree for at least six months. “Epilepsy can make it very hard to
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Nine–year–old Sonya Gibby loves unicorns as much as she hates the tumor growing in her brain, so she named the basal ganglia glioma “the evil unicorn.” It’s considered inoperable because of its location in the deep structures of the brain that control everything from movement to temperature regulation to sleep cycles. Surgery by hand could do more harm than good to the Charleston fourth grader’s brain. But Sonya’s tumor is not untreatable, said neurosurgeon Ramin Eskandari, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery. A fairly new option called the NeuroBlate System has been used in other states, but never on a child in South Carolina —until Sonya. On May 15, Sonya became the first child in the state to be treated with NeuroBlate,
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hold down a job,” Vandergrift said. “You can fall and hurt yourself when you experience a seizure. Many patients are also taking medications with their own side effects such as thinking
Dr. Ramin Eskandari examines patient Sonya Gibby.
See Epilepsy on page 6
See Tumor on page 7
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