Fortis Malar Hospital organized Paediatric Epilepsy Update 2017
Fortis Comprehensive Epilepsy Centre (FCEC) at Fortis Malar Hospital in association with Indian Academy of Paediatrics – Chennai City Branch has organized Paediatric Epilepsy Update 2017 on 26th February 2017 at Hotel Crowne Plaza, Alwarpet, Chennai. There have been tremendous advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood epilepsy in the recent years. The aim of this conference is to bring together experts in epilepsy, paediatricians, and paediatric neurologists to facilitate free exchange of ideas, to familiarise with newer diagnostic and treatment modalities available and to standardise the clinical practice. Continued efforts in this direction should help mitigate huge medical and surgical treatment gap in epilepsy existing in our country.
Over 200 Paediatricians and Paediatric neurologists from different parts of Tamil Nadu attended this conference. The program was be addressed by Dr. A. Simon Harvey, Director – Children’s Epilepsy Program, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, who is a well renowned international expert on Paediatric Epilepsy and Epilepsy Surgery. Other speakers were Prof. G Kumaresan, senior consultant paediatric neurologist at Kanchi Kamakodi Child Trust Hospital Chennai, Dr. Dinesh Nayak, senior consultant neurologist and epileptologist and Dr Lakshminarayanan, consultant paediatric neurologist and epileptologist at Fortis Malar Hospital, Adyar Chennai, Dr. Naveen Sankhyan, Associate professor and Head , Pediatric Neurology Division, Advanced Paediatrics Center, PGIMER, Chandigarh, Dr. Sandeep Patil, consultant paediatric neurologist and epileptologist, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital & Research Centre, Pune, and Dr. Y Sangeetha, Associate Professor, Department of Neurological Sciences, CMC Vellore.
About the occasion, Dr. Dinesh Nayak, Head of FCEC and senior consultant neurologist and epileptologist, Fortis Malar Hospital said, “Epilepsy is one of the most prevalent and readily treatable childhood neurological disorders. It is amenable to optimal medical therapy in most cases. Though there have been many recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood epilepsy, these have not been incorporated into routine clinical practice. There are more new antiepileptic drugs approved for use in children today than a decade ago. Paediatricians need familiarity with the newer antiepileptic drugs before prescribing them confidently. ”
“Seizures and epilepsy are commonly diagnosed by careful history and clinical examination. The diagnosis of epilepsy is supported by EEG (brain wave test) and brain scans. Medical treatment is very effective in controlling seizures. Seizures in about 70-80% of children and young adults with epilepsy can be well controlled with medications alone. Some of the patients with uncontrolled epilepsy can be candidates for brain surgery to cure epilepsy” said Dr K Lakshminarayanan, Paediatric Epilepsy Specialist at Fortis Malar Hospital, Chennai.
According to WHO, India has around 1.2 crore people suffer from epilepsy. While this number contributes to one-fifth of the global statistic, the number of people availing proper treatment for epilepsy in India is relatively less. This may be attributed to the lack of awareness, especially in the rural areas about the treatment methods available.
The Fortis Comprehensive Epilepsy Centre (FCEC) is a one of its kind, world class, state of the art facility for diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy/seizures/seizure disorder in Chennai. Our centre regularly performs epilepsy surgery in all age groups (infants, children and adults). It is also one of the few centres in India that performs complex epilepsy surgeries in infants and young kids regularly.
FCEC team has performed more than 125 complex epilepsy surgeries in the last few years. Recently, FCEC has performed state- of- the- art stereo-EEGs (the presurgical evaluation of focal epilepsy) followed by resective epilepsy surgeries in four patients including two international patients successfully. Stereo-EEGs are performed routinely only in very few centres across our country. The centre also performs awake craniotomy surgeries and intracranial (invasive, subdural) EEG monitoring whenever necessary, in more complex cases.
The FCEC team is headed by Dr Dinesh Nayak who is well known all over the country as an Expert in the field. Dr Sathish Kumar and Dr K Lakshminarayanan are the other neurologists in this team. Apart from the neurologists, the team also consists of epilepsy surgeon, senior anaesthetist, critical care physicians, neuro-psychologist, EEG technologists and epilepsy care co-ordinator.
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