Scientists found the cause of epilepsy resistance to drug treatment

Scientists found the reason why seizures are not always relieved through medication.

Studying of patients' brain tissue showed that seizures are sometimes caused by electric interaction between nerve cells, not chemically. In such cases, drugs remain powerless, and only a surgery can help a patient. Drugs do not work almost in 30% of epilepsy cases, and doctors have to remove brain tissues, causing seizures.

British doctors conducted an analysis of remote brain tissues and recorded electrical signals from individual neurons and networks formed by them. Comparing indices with normal ones, scientists identified some "noise" - special vibrations of waves in the affected epileptic brain, which are believed to be the harbingers of a seizure. Then they found these fluctuations are caused not by chemical, but electrical interactions of neurons.

Scientists say further research is necessary to understand what triggers a controlling connection between brain cells epileptic condition and accelerated pulse vibrations that cause seizures.