Treatment of epileptic seizure with medicinal herbs in focal cortical dysplasia

If an abnormality occurs during the stage of fetal brain development in the womb, the child may be born with various brain malformations. Abnormalities affecting the cerebral cortex are termed "disorders of cortical development" or "cortical malformations"; "focal cortical dysplasia" (FCD) refers specifically to an abnormality localized to a particular part of the cerebral cortex. This condition frequently triggers epileptic seizures. The symptoms of these seizures vary depending on the location of the FCD within the brain. Onset during infancy or early childhood can lead to varying degrees of developmental impairment. Seizures caused by FCD are often unresponsive to antiepileptic drugs; such cases are classified as "intractable epilepsy" or "drug-resistant epilepsy." Seizures are more likely to occur during fevers or, in females, immediately before or during menstruation. A six-year-old child suffering from frequent epileptic seizures was diagnosed at a university hospital with a cortical malformation (specifically, focal cortical dysplasia). After various antiepileptic drugs proved ineffective, the child visited our clinic seeking treatment based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A TCM diagnosis revealed symptoms of "heat" affecting the internal organs (the *Zang-Fu*), with particularly intense heat observed in the brain, nervous system, and digestive system. Indeed, the child's seizures were triggered by rising ambient temperatures or fevers. We prescribed a combination of 26 different medicinal herbs designed to cool the heat in the affected organs, resulting in the cessation of the epileptic seizures.