A new medical study conducted by experts at Newcastle University has been using brain scans to collect findings that will help people with epilepsy to lead a more normal life.

Scientists have studied brain scans from a sample of patients that have the most commonly found form of the condition – temporal lobe epilepsy – and they have used a technique that models the brain like a computer network.

Through stimulating brain activity and mapping their findings, the research team was able to identify regions that indicate susceptibility to seizures.

Reportedly the first study to use both computational modelling of brains along with patient-specific MRI data, it is hoped that the findings will help pave the way for more effective treatment of epilepsy patients.

Frances Hutchings, lead researcher for the study, said: “Removal of brain tissue is often the final option for treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy but we know that it is not always effective.

“It’s early days and there is more work to be done, but this model could assist surgeons in targeting surgical procedures more effectively and help people with epilepsy lead a more normal life.”

Dr Peter Taylor, co-leader of the study, added: “This research may help to explain why surgery is so often unsuccessful, as this work predicts that the areas most commonly removed in surgery are not always involved in starting and spreading seizures.

“It also takes us a step further towards rectifying the problem, as identifying the most seizure prone areas on an individual basis has the potential to show when the usual surgery procedures may not work for a patient.”