SEATTLE -- Local researchers are launching a new study that could significantly affect the way epilepsy is treated.

Margaret Weems plays the piano with grace now. But at age 11, epileptic seizures threatened her ability to function. Medication only helped a little.

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"It was just very disruptive in my day, in my concentration, in my goals," Weems said.

Experts say it's critical to find effective ways to stop seizures as soon as possible in young patients. Otherwise, irreversible damage can occur.

"They don't have the ability to leave home and get a job, and get married and have children and pay taxes. And they remain disabled," said Dr. Jerome Engle, an epilepsy researcher.

At 15, Margaret had surgery in the part of her brain responsible for her seizures called the temporal lobe. Right now surgery is considered the last resort.

"Obviously, there's a fear that you can die from surgery. But you can die from seizures," said Dr. Engle.

So researchers around the country and at Swedish Medical Center are conducting a National Institutes of Health study. They'll compare aggressive drug treatment with surgery in 200 early epilepsy patients to see which works better.

"Either way, the important thing is to stop the seizures as soon as possible without side effects," Dr. Engle said.

Margaret Weems knows that first hand. Her surgery fourteen years ago worked.

"It honestly took a while to get used to not having seizures," she said.

And when the study is over, doctors hope to see many more epilepsy cases with an upbeat ending.

Swedish Medical Center is the only site in the Northwest recruiting epilepsy patients for the national study.