First Coast News
by Juliette Dryer

A new device is helping doctors at the Mayo Clinic better map the brain during surgery on patients with epilepsy uncontrolled by medication. The device, known as the QT Grid, was developed by neurologist Dr. William Tatum and neurosurgeon Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa. During certain surgeries on people with epilepsy, doctors remove the portion of the brain triggering seizures. However, the brain controls many critical functions like speech, movement and facial expression, all in areas just millimeters apart. “There are different areas of the brain that have such delicate functions that removing them would create as much or more of a disability than somebody that has ongoing seizures uncontrolled by medication,” Tatum said.

Reach: First Coast News refers to three television stations in Jacksonville, Florida. WJXX, the ABC affiliate; WTLV, the NBC affiliate; and WCWJ, the CW affiliate.

Additional coverage: Florida Times-Union

Related coverage:
News4Jax, Local people share their stories of battling epilepsy by Kent Justice — Peggy Cardona, who lives in Ormond Beach, suffered from epilepsy, but found her cure at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville…"It was pretty lonely. You try to find different things to do to keep yourself busy," she said. "But during that time, I also developed vertigo, along with the seizures, so it made my problem a little bit more bad." Cardona lost faith in medicine, but finally sought care from Dr. William Tatum at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. "I didn't really trust doctors at that time," Cardona said. "He grew my trust back."

News4Jax, Battling epilepsy — Matt Derechin is interviewed on his struggle with epilepsy.

Context: Alfred Quinones-Hinojosa, M.D. is a Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon. As the director of the Neurosurgery Brain Tumor Stem Cell Laboratory, Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, M.D., studies brain tumors from a surgical, imaging, clinical and basic science perspective. William Tatum, D.O. is a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

Contact: Kevin Punsky

Tags: brain mapping, Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, Dr. William Tatum, epilepsy, First Coast News, Florida Times-Union, Matt Derechin, QT Grid, Uncategorized