Special Session Intractable Epilepsies
Saturday, 29 June 2019 Room Amsterdam
The joint special session of the corresponding members to EAN and AFAN was dedicated to “Intractable epilepsies”.
The session was chaired by Prof. Jean-Michel Vallat (Limoges, France) and Prof. Erich Schmutzhard (Innsbruck, Austria).
Prof. Dr. Hassan Hosny (Cairo, Egypt) addressed “Symptomatic etiologies of epilepsy in Mediterranean countries and Africa”. He gave a brief overview of the causes of symptomatic epilepsies and concentrated then on posttraumatic epilepsies, TBI still being the most frequent and most devastating cause of symptomatic epilepsies in lower- and middle-income countries (LAMICs). Then he addressed the issue of prevalence, diagnosis and treatment within this context.
Dr. Sarosh Irani (Oxford, United Kingdom) spoke about “Autoimmune epilepsies”. He gave a full overview on the various antibodies causing epileptic seizures, stressing in particular the importance of CASPR2-, LGl1-, NMDAR-antibodies both in diagnostic and therapeutic management. Of high interest was his statement that an EEG could even provide a differential-diagnostic clue in a patient with subacute encephalitic signs and symptoms when he said in his lecture that an autoantibody associated (NMDAR) encephalitis will show the same EEG as a patient who had received ketamine for anesthetic purposes.
Dr. Augustina Charway-Felli (Accra, Ghana) spoke about the “Selection of epileptic patients for surgery”. She addressed the issue of “multidrug-resistant” epilepsies, in particular, in LAMICs, the urgent necessity to question such a case of pharmaco-resistance and to make sure that this is truly the case. Only then, epilepsy surgery should be discussed, in particular when focal lesions can clearly be attributed to the epilepsy syndrome. Finally, the logistic challenges for such a program and for the management of a concrete case in LAMICs were discussed frankly and openly.
Due to health problems Prof. Amadou Gallo Diop could not attend the Oslo congress. The time dedicated to his lecture was changed into Q&A time.
The session was extremely well attended and the meeting room was totally filled with the >200 participants. Several followed the session outside on the monitor.
by Prof. E. Schmutzhard (Innsbruck, Austria)
