Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/808749
THE LE VEL 4 SOUTH TE X A S COMPREHENSIVE EPILEPSY CENTER AT UNIVERSIT Y HE ALTH SYSTEM OFFERS A WIDE R ANGE OF ADVANCED DIAGNOSTIC AND TRE ATMENT OPTIONS FOR PATIENTS YOUNG AND OLD. THE NUMBERS TELL the story. Nearly two-thirds of patients with epi- lepsy do well with medicines alone. But a patient whose seizures continue after the first one or two prescription medications has less than a 5 percent chance of becom- ing seizure-free with a third, fourth or fifth medication — alone or in combination. The American Academy of Neurology recom mend s t hat t hese ref ra c t or y patients be referred to a comprehen- sive epilepsy center. The South Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, a col- laboration between University Health System and UT Health San Antonio, sees a lot of them as the only Level 4 center in South Texas — and one of the largest and busiest programs in the country. "Based on the 20 to 25 surgeries we do each year, we're probably in the top 15 percent nationwide among epilepsy s u r g e r y p r o g r a m s ," s a y s C h a r l e s Szabo, MD, Co-director of the South Texas Comprehensive Epilepsy Center and Professor of Neurology at UT Health San Antonio. "In that sense it's a pretty large program." The Center, which was established in 1995, has been growing steadily. The multidisciplinary team includes six epi- leptologists (neurologists with specialty training in epilepsy), two neurosurgeons, two neuropsychologists, two social work- ers, and a large and skilled support sta. Besides seeing patients at University Hospital, the Robert B. Green Campus and UT Health's Medical Arts & Research Center, the epilepsy team a lso staffs outreach clinics in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo and Harlingen. DETERMINING THE CAUSE When a patient arrives for evaluation, a r igorous screening ta kes place to determine the type, severity and location in the brain of the seizures, and whether surgery might be an option. "The monitoring we do in the hospital is really to figure out why people continue to have seizures — even though they're receiving treatment with anticonvulsant medications," says Lola Morgan, MD, Co-director of the Center and Medical Director of the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at University Hospita l and Associate Professor of Neurolog y at UT Hea lth San Antonio. The Epilepsy Monitoring Unit consists of 10 adult and four pediatric beds in the new Sky Tower at University Hospital. There, physicians have a range of sophis- ticated tools to determine where in the brain seizure activity is occurring. That involves EEG video monitoring over the course of three to five days to observe and analyze the patient's seizures. University Hospital 0 6C O V E R S T O R Y GIVING HOPE TO THOSE WITH EPILEPSY 0 6