[ Indu Chukhu ]
ITANAGAR, 3 Mar: Paediatric neurotic disorders such as headaches and epilepsy are very common, but they are often misdiagnosed, said Dr Praveen Kumar, consultant paediatric neurologist at New Delhi-based Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, here on Sunday.
Speaking to this daily, Dr Kumar, who was on a visit here to address a continuing medical education (CME) workshop titled ‘Paediatric epilepsy and utilisation of EEGs as adjunct for epilepsy diagnosis’ for paeditricians from the ICR and Assam, said that such disorders should be addressed properly and awareness about them should be spread.
“Mostly children and old people suffer from bouts of epilepsy,” he said, adding that “seizures are often misdiagnosed
since people lack awareness about the first aid measures for seizures, and about how correct electroencephalogram (EEG) tests should be conducted and proper medicines prescribed.”
“Paediatric epilepsy is very common across the world, including India, and we need quality management tools for paediatric epilepsy patients or paediatric seizure patients to identify the disease while making the people aware of the ailment,” he said.
Responding to a question, paediatric MD Dr Tunu Gadi, who is also the president of the state unit of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), informed that “the department in general lacks training in identifying non-epileptic conditions that can be very similar to epilepsy.”
“Identification of epilepsy mimics will help prevent unnecessary use of anti- epileptics. We also lag behind in having the expertise to read electro encephalogram, which is a crucial adjunct to epilepsy diagnosis,” she said, adding that epilepsy cases are often referred to hospitals outside the state “due to lack of continuing education in this regard.”
“After this workshop, I am more confident in identifying potential epilepsy cases and differentiating it from false positive cases,” she said.
“Since updating and upskilling are crucial in medical science, the IAP’s state unit is working on organising many more CME programmes in the days to come. We are certain that it will help our paediatricians immensely,” Gadi added.
Assam-based paediatrician Dr Pranoti Bora shared her experiences, and said that “the CME on paediatric neurology was very informative and helpful in refreshing our knowledge of neurology.”
