Parents advised to record footage of child if they have fears over epilepsy

DUBAI // The latest treatments for infant epilepsy were the focus of a Ministry of Health conference on paediatric medicine on Thursday.
Dr Gururaj Aithala, a consultant paediatric neurologist at Latifa Hospital, gave a presentation on the latest epilepsy drugs and the tell-tale signs of infant seizures at the three-day Arab Paediatric Conference at the Sofitel Hotel.
"Epilepsy is a common serious brain disorder that has no age, gender, social class or geographic boundaries," he said.
"Three things can cause a seizure but they are not all obvious - either a lesion, genetic predisposition or stress on the brain, including flashing lights, lack of sleep or fever."
The various forms of epilepsy were discussed, with videos shown of an absence, partial and myoclonic seizure.
In an absence seizure, a person loses awareness for a time.
A partial seizure is a jerking or stiffening on one side of the body when the person is usually fully alert, while a myoclonic seizure often involves jerking in the neck, upper arms and shoulders.
Very young babies commonly twitch during sleep but this is not necessarily a sign of brain injury, Dr Aithala said.
A two-month-old child with abnormal movements, including stiffening of the limbs and salivation, was given as an example of early symptoms.
As the child grew, the fits became more frequent, with "startles" a few times a day. The child would also suddenly fall forward, to signal a possibility of epilepsy.
"By definition, infantile spasms present themselves in children from three months to 12 months old," Dr Aithala said.
If a child has an epileptic seizure, there is a 45 to 50 per cent chance of the condition continuing into adulthood.
Treatment includes medication, surgery to remove part of the brain responsible for fits, a ketogenic diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates, or nerve stimulation therapy, where a programmable device the size of a button cell battery, like in watches, is inserted under the skin to deliver electric signals to the brain via the vagus nerve.
Day one also featured presentations on the latest surgery and transplantation, public health and updates on managing autism in children.
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