Epilepsy Surgery: Nicholas' Memorial Journey

Physicians at Memorial Neuroscience Institute in Hollywood recently performed their first craniotomy, a two-pronged surgery to remove a portion of the brain causing seizures.

The patient, Nicholas, had suffered from epileptic seizures for more than decade and had gone through more than ten medications with little results.

Given the choice of receiving Vagus Nerve Stimulation therapy, a pacemaker-like device that sends signals to the brain via the vagus nerve, or the craniotomy, Nicholas went with the latter.

The 33-year-old, who also has a congenital heart defect and a pacemaker, didn’t want any more devices put in his body.

“It’s wonderful that I’m not going to have a seizure again,” Fotopoulos said. “I have a new chance in life.”
Prior to the surgery, he had lost jobs and the ability to drive his car due to his seizures, in which he would zone out for a brief period of time, twitch and have violent movements if the events lasted long enough.

The surgery, he added, has given him the opportunity to start fresh.

He’s now engaged and wants to have kids.

“In the whole West Palm, Broward and north Miami-Dade County, there’s no single advanced epilepsy center that is capable of providing basic services for patients with epilepsy,” said Dr. Tarek Zakaria, a neurologist at Memorial Healthcare System who was formerly with the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. “Most of these patients will have to go somewhere else to have very basic epilepsy workups and treatment.”