Severe Epilepsy
Severing the Corpus Callosum
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder of the brain that causes chronic seizures and convulsions. It can be caused by genetic birth defects, stroke, brain injury, meningitis, or other infectious diseases. However, most of the time the cause of epilepsy is not known. The corpus callosum connects the two halves -- the left and right hemispheres -- of the brain together. This is how information communicates and travels between hemispheres. Since this is the route through which information is shared, the seizures also travel from hemisphere to hemisphere. Medications and anticonvulsants are effective treatments, but if the epileptic seizures are so severe and so uncontrollable and debilitating that the patient cannot function, then severing the corpus callosum may be a viable option.
The medical operation of severing the corpus callosum is called a corpus callosotomy. In order to successfully sever the corpus callosum, the brain must be exposed through a procedure called a craniotomy. The entire operation takes about four hours. After a corpus callosotomy operation, the seizures are not cured, but manageable. Because the corpus callosum is severed, the seizure only affects one hemisphere, therefore only one side of the body as well. Since the seizure cannot cross to the other hemisphere, the seizures may be less frequent and less intense, but they're still there.
However, after a corpus callosotomy, you now have a split-brain -- there's a left half and a right half, but they're no longer connected. It's as if you now have two independent brains -- working independent from one another, no longer communicating, no longer in synchronization. That's a scary thought: having two brains -- two independent cerebral hemispheres, two competing minds. I can't even imagine how horrifying that must be, especially at first.
For elaboration, I posted a YouTube video below showing an epileptic patient who had his corpus callosum severed and it shows a few experiments involving competition and a lack of communication between cerebral hemispheres in a split-brain patient:
Frankie,
ReplyDeleteI found your post very interesting especially the part where the person becomes split brain. I wonder if people could use this to claim multiple personality disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder)which is very possible. I agree with you that it is scary to be split brain. I cant imagine going through that. It is also very sad that there has been no cure for this disorder. There has been many attempts and even the most extreme which involves surgery is still not guaranteed. Good post.