Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common problem affecting 0.5 - 1% of the world's population. Though 60 - 70% of patients with epilepsy will respond to medication, 20 - 30% will still have seizures despite multiple types of medication.

Some of these patients with difficult-to-treat epilepsy may have subtle abnormalities in the structure of their brain, causing them to have seizures. These patients may be candidates for epilepsy surgery. Others may have unusual or unrecognised epilepsy syndromes that may not respond to conventional treatment.

The National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) has dedicated Epilepsy Clinics staffed by neurologists with a primary interest in epilepsy. We provide services to evaluate uncomplicated cases of epilepsy, as well as patients with more complex problems. Counselling by a nurse clinician is also available.

As part of routine evaluation of epilepsy, we provide electroencephalogram (EEG) services. MRI brain scans are done using our 3 tesla MRI machine with dedicated epilepsy protocols and interpreted by a neuroradiologist experienced in epilepsy neuroimaging. For the complex patients who are being evaluated for epilepsy surgery, we provide inpatient video EEG monitoring. All potential surgical candidates are discussed at our regular Epilepsy Patient Management Conferences, which are multi-disciplinary meetings staffed by neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, neuropsychologists and social workers. Complex non-surgical epilepsy cases are also discussed at these meetings.