Diagnosing Intractable Epilepsy
ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½ have many ways to help diagnose focal intractable epilepsy. Your doctor will likely ask you many questions about how your seizures begin. Make sure you ask your family or friends to describe what happens exactly when you start having seizures. This gives the clinician very important clues about where in the brain your seizures are originating from.
You will likely also have a test called an electroencephalogram (EEG). This involves placing electrodes on your scalp to measure your brain's activity. The EEG can confirm if epileptic activity is confined to one single focus in your brain.
Your doctor will also want you to have a high resolution MRI brain scan. The Stanford Comprehensive Epilepsy Program offers 3-Tesla MRIs, and for some individuals 7-Tesla MRIs, to detect the most subtle abnormalities in brain structure.
