(Adnkronos) - “L’esordio delle epilessie” rare “è molto precoce, perlopiù in età infantile. Dal punto di vista epilettologico, nella stragrande maggioranza dei casi, rispondono poco ai trattamenti farmacologici e si caratterizzano per la presenza di altri fattori, come la disabilità cognitiva e i disturbi comportamentali”. Di conseguenza “si va incontro a una serie di problematiche dal punto di vista diagnostico e terapeutico. È importante un approccio olistico e multidisciplinare che prenda in considerazione non solo le crisi” epilettiche “ma tutto l’insieme”. Lo ha detto Flavio Villani, vicepresidente della Lega italiana contro l’epilessia (Lice), a Roma, in occasione dell’evento ‘Oltre l’Epilessia: le sfide delle epilessie rare e complesse’ a Roma da Adnkronos Comunicazione con il contributo non condizionato di Jazz Pharmaceuticals.
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00:00What are the main characteristics of epilepsy?
00:04The main characteristic is that the onset of these epilepsy is very early,
00:11mostly in infancy, and the other important characteristic from the epileptology point of view
00:18is that in the vast majority of cases these are epilepsies that respond little to pharmacological treatments.
00:24In addition to these basic characteristics,
00:28they are also characterized by the presence of other disorders,
00:35which are cognitive disorders,
00:38so cognitive disability is certainly one of the fundamental components of these syndromes,
00:44and behavioral disorders.
00:46So this obviously determines a whole series of problems
00:51from the diagnostic and therapeutic point of view,
00:57because the control of crises is not enough,
01:00given that it can be achieved,
01:02but it is also necessary to have an approach to these other disorders,
01:06therefore behavioral cognitive disorders.
01:09Unfortunately, drugs that act on these components of these forms of severe epilepsy,
01:19also associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, are not there.
01:23The important thing is that the drugs that we can currently use are well tolerated,
01:29they do not determine an aggravation of these components of the syndrome,
01:35so that they are well tolerated from a psychological point of view,
01:38and that they are well tolerated from a cognitive point of view.
01:41Often the best control of epilepsy
01:45also involves a consequential improvement of these additional components,
01:50which are sometimes preponderant compared to the crises themselves.
01:55It is now well known from scientific literature
02:00that the impact of these more psychological and cognitive components
02:06is preponderant on the quality of life,
02:11the greater the cognitive disorders and the associated behavioral disorders,
02:17the lower the quality of life of these people and of the family, of course,
02:23because this involves a whole series of management problems
02:27on the part of the relatives and caregivers,
02:30let's say, of people affected by complex rare epilepsy,
02:35which normally do not occur in different conditions.
02:43The very important thing is that the approach to these people, to these patients,
02:49is a holistic approach, therefore global,
02:52which takes into account not only the crises,
02:55which have always been the fundamental objective of treatment and management,
03:01but which takes into account the complete set.
03:05Of course, this can also be done through a multidisciplinary management.
03:11It is necessary for specialists to dialogue with each other,
03:17so specialists in neurology, epileptologists, psychiatrists,
03:21children's neuropsychiatrists dialogue with each other
03:25precisely to try to best manage these situations.