When a patient shows drug-resistance and it is not possible to undergo a surgical intervention, there are other kinds of treatments capable to lessen the frequency or the intensity of the seizure.
The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. It generates a state of ketosis that helps to lessen the number of seizures.
It needs a rigorous control of the nutritional and metabolic status of the patient; therefore, once the indication is defined it has to start off in the hospital environment.
Our specialists (expert endocrines and nutritionists) are in charge to elaborate an utterly adapted diet made for each of the patients and supervise the results through an EEG video.
VNS therapy consists of intermittent stimulation of the left cervical vagus nerve delivered via the VNS Therapy System implanted under the thorax skin.
Placing the vagal stimulator is relatively simple. It can be done with general or cervical anesthesia. Surgery normally lasts around 2 hours and the surgical complications are few.
The placement of a vagal stimulator shall provide good results given the cases when epilepsy is connected to the vagal nerve, and when there are heart rate alterations during the seizures. To access to this information, the patient shall be submitted to an EEG video.
The most frequent side effects are: hoarseness, cough, neck pain, dysphonia, pitch tone alteration. They may appear sporadic headaches or nausea. However, one of the most serious complications is the heart rate alteration.
The vagal stimulator is prescribed for drug-resistant adults and children older than 12 years old who are not candidates for the surgery.
The use of this technique can be combined with drug treatments.
Epilepsy can also be controlled through hormones; more precisely with the Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or corticoids.
The patient should stay inpatient for a week in order to monitoring his evolution and evaluate the results (EEG video) since this sort of treatments can provoke side effects, like hypertension and obesity.
