Bengaluru: Vikram Hospital plans to conduct a three-day CME on ‘Epilepsy in Clinical Practice’ on November 4, 5 and 6 at the Hotel Chancery Pavilion. The objective of the conference is to improve the understanding of epilepsy care among the neurologists and improve the understanding of epilepsy.
More than 150 delegates including practicing neurologists, neurosurgeons and students of neurosciences across the country will attend this conference and few delegates from Nepal and Bangladesh are also expected to participate in the conference.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rajesh B Iyer, Consultant Neurologist and Epileptologist, Vikram Hospital pointed out that epilepsy care needs to be improved in the country as there is a huge treatment gap for both medically and surgical treatable patients. “Epilepsy affects 0.5 per cent of the population. It is important to improve awareness of recent advances in treatment of epilepsy among doctors,’’ Dr Iyer said.
Dr Raghavendra S, Consultant Neurologist and Epipletologist, Vikram Hospital, appraised that most of the people perceive that epilepsy is shaking of limbs and loss of consciousness and associated injuries. “There is a lot of social stigma associated with this. However, there are many types of epilepsies and some of them are as simple as just a momentary blackout. Often children suffer from impaired scholastic performance just because of a silent epileptic process in the brain which can be easily corrected and children can return back to their normal school,’’ Dr Raghavendra said.
According to Dr B A Chandramouli, Consultant Neurologist, Vikram Hospital, about 20 to 30 per cent of patients with epilepsies remain resistant to medicines. “About 2 to 4 lakh people in the country are potential candidates for epilepsy surgery. There have been tremendous advances in investigative technologies to identify the seizure focus and enable surgical removal. The surgery may help control epilepsy, improve quality of life and reduce economic burden on the family,’’ Dr Chandramouli said.
Sudhir Pai, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Vikram Hospital, has emphasized that this is a unique conference because more than 50 experts in the field of epilepsy would come together to discuss various options of epilepsy care. “Vikram Hospital has facilities to perform these highly advanced procedures and has been effectively running the epilepsy program from the last five years,’’ Pai said.
Epilepsy care requires a comprehensive approach amongst various specialists including a trained epileptologist, highly experienced neuro surgeon, accurate electrographers who can do good EEGs, neuroanaesthetists, neuro radiologists, neurophysiologists, occupational therapists, psychiatrists etc. to run a comprehensive epilepsy programme. At the conference, 50 specialists will be invited from the field of epilepsy including some international specialists who will discuss various aspects of epilepsy and its treatment.
