For six years, Markus Muehlheim could keep his epileptic seizures under control with medication. They came on more than a year apart, each lasting less than 10 minutes.
But then the Spring Hill man began having seizures about every two weeks, landing him in the hospital every time.
“My life was very much affected by it,” said the 69-year-old retired mechanical engineer. “I couldn’t drive anymore. They came unannounced. It happened twice when I was in a restaurant.”
In the past, his next step might have been open brain surgery, which usually requires a 2- to 3-inch incision in the head, removing and replacing a piece of bone, and weeks of recovery.
But now area doctors are using MRI guided laser surgery to treat some types of epilepsy and certain brain tumors, giving patients an alternative they didn’t have before.
