Doha: Salem is a 10-year-old boy from Kuwait who suffered from at least 15 to 30 seizures a day. Each seizure could last from a few seconds to up to four minutes, increasing the danger to his physical health.
He was transferred to Sidra Medicine in Qatar after his family in Kuwait sought a second expert opinion with the hospital’s renowned specialist treatment program for children with intractable epilepsy.
Salem’s father, Dr. Abdulrahman Abdullah said: “Due to the nature of Salem’s epilepsy, we had to have someone monitoring him all the time as he would have an uncontrollable seizure any minute, with the added risk of hurting himself. And while he was on a good therapy program, including anti-epileptic medications in Kuwait, we had reached a stage where he was no longer responding to conventional treatment or medication.
“Our decision to bring my son to Sidra Medicine was based on several recommendations within the international and regional paediatric medical faculty. The specialist and advanced therapies that Sidra Medicine offers compete with centers of excellence that are in the US or Europe. My family and I are extremely impressed with the care our son received here,” Salem’s father added.
The Acting Division Chief of Neurology at Sidra Medicine, Dr. Husam Kayyali, said: “Salem’s case was brought to our attention when his father reached out to our international office to save his son’s life. Intractable epilepsy can be a heavy burden, especially on children as they need constant monitoring and care. Studies have shown that only 3-4 percent of patients with intractable epilepsy respond to treatment with antiepileptic medications. Cutting edge advanced therapies such as epilepsy surgery might be the only answer in such cases. After a thorough evaluation of Salem’s case at Sidra Medicine, we decided to proceed with epilepsy surgery.”
Salem was cared for at Sidra Medicine by a multidisciplinary team of experts from neurology, neurophysiology, radiology, nuclear medicine, neuro-psychology and neurosurgery. He was also extensively supported by a wider team from occupational health, physical therapy, rehabilitative medicine and ophthalmology to ensure a comprehensive pre and post-operative care program.
Sidra Medicine is one of very few children’s hospitals in the Middle East to have dedicated paediatric experts overseeing the entire spectrum of care for children with complex diseases or health challenges including epilepsy.
“Salem’s treatment program at Sidra Medicine started with a thorough assessment and investigations at the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) with Video-Electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring and advanced neuroimaging such as high-resolution Brain MRI imaging and (positron emission tomography) PET scans. It was determined that Salem had suffered a stroke when he was a fetus. This explained how he started getting refractory epileptic seizures when he turned five, which had progressively damaged the left side of his brain,” continued Dr. Kayyali.
After completing the evaluation of Salem’s seizures, Dr. Kayyali and his team consulted with Sidra Medicine’s neurosurgeons, Dr. Ian Pople, Division Chief Neurosurgery, and Dr. Khalid Al Kharazi, and it was decided that Salem would benefit from a left hemispherotomy; an advanced and innovative technique that has proven to reduce the complication rates while maintaining good seizure control.
Salem underwent an MRI on the same day as his surgery. The MRI helped the surgeons determine that the parts within the left side of his brain, which were causing his seizures, are now disconnected.
Salem was then transferred to Sidra Medicine’s paediatric ICU ward and stayed there for three more weeks. He underwent physical and occupational therapy. During this time, the medical team was pleased to observe that Salem did not experience any epileptic seizures. He will continue to receive customised care back home in Kuwait, with physicians at Sidra Medicine coordinating his care with a team in Kuwait.
Salem’s father, Dr. Abdullah said, “As a physician myself, I was well aware of the complexities of my son’s case and I am impressed with care, professionalism and the team-based approach that Sidra Medicine applied in my son’s treatment.”