High-tech imaging allowed doctors to find area causing seizures

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A new imaging study is helping a teenage boy recover from seizures.

March 26 is known as “Purple Day.” It's a day dedicated to epilepsy awareness.

While medications and other therapies are often used first, one teenager from Ohio is sharing his story of success.

He participated in a breakthrough clinical trial at the Cleveland Clinic.

It helped him solve the mystery of his multiple seizures each day by using a special high-tech imaging tool.

It is called the “7-Tesla MRI”. It helped Ravi Stewart pin-point the area of the brain that was causing the seizures.

At the time, he was having up to 80 seizures a day.

As part of a clinical trial, Ravi had a type of imaging that allowed for a scan of his brain that was so powerful, it allowed the research team to see the area causing his seizures.

In his case, it was a small spot on the brain that was not properly formed during early brain development.

This gave doctors the information they needed to remove it and his seizures have almost all but disappeared.

Now, for some reason, medications worked for him until he hit the age of 17. A lot can change with this condition depending on hormones or other things, and sometimes it's tough to pinpoint why.

This isn't likely to be a front-line treatment, but if you are suffering from seizures, you may want to ask about newer technology. It now allows providers to see things that they could never see until now.