간질의 보조치료요법: 대뇌자극법

Adjunctive Therapy of Epilepsy: Brain Stimulation

Treatment of refractory epilepsy is very challenging. Despite of recent advances of surgical treatment, needs for other therapeutic modalities have been growing. Among them neural stimulation is a promising new technology. Vagal nerve stimulation is firstly introduced method and licenced as an adjuvant therapy in many countries. It is as effective as antiepileptic drug therapy. Deep brain stimulation has been applied to many brain areas such as cerebellum, thalamus, subthalamus, hippocampus, and other neocortical epileptic foci. Yet it has preliminary encouraging results, further multi-institutional study may confirm the therapeutic effectiveness. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is simple, non-invasive method. But its effect seems short-lived and weak so far. Therapeutic evidence of the brain stimulation is still insufficient now but its future is bright.