Sidra Medicine saves life of young Kuwaiti boy with intractable epilepsy
QF entity performs complex epilepsy surgery for first time on an int’l patient
SIDRA Medicine, a Qatar Foundation (QF) entity, has performed a complex epilepsy surgery for the first time on an international patient and saved the life of a 10-year-old Kuwait boy. Salem, who used to suffer from at least fifteen to thirty seizures a day, was transferred to Sidra Medicine in Qatar, after his family in Kuwait sought a second expert opinion with the hospital’s renowned specialist treatment programme for children with intractable epilepsy. Salem’s father Dr Abdulrahman Abdullah said, “Our decision to bring my son to Sidra Medicine was based on several recommendations. The specialist and advanced therapies that Sidra Medicine offers competes with centres of excellence that are in the US or Europe. My family and I are extremely impressed with the care our son received here.”
SALEM, a 10-year-old boy from Kuwait, used to suffer 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.
Salem was transferred to Sidra Medicine in Qatar after his family in Kuwait sought a second expert opinion with the hospital’s renowned specialist treatment programme 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 programme 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 Salem 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 competes with centres of excellence that are in the US or Europe. My family and I are extremely impressed with the care our son received here.
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 programme.
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.
Dr Husam Kayyali, acting division chief of Neurology at Sidra Medicine, said, Salem’s treatment programme at Sidra Medicine started with a thorough assessment and investigations at the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) with ideo-Electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring and advanced neuroimaging such as high-resolution Brain MRI imaging and PET (positron emission tomography) scans. It was determined that Salem had suffered a stroke when he was a foetus inside his mother. This explained how he started getting refractory epileptic seizures when he turned five, which had progressively damaged the left side of his brain.
After completing the evaluation of Salem’s seizures, Dr Kayyali and his team consulted with Sidra Medicine’s neurosurgeons Dr Ian Pople, division chief of 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.
Dr Pople said: We performed the surgery in our advanced high-tech neuro-imaging operating theatre, where we disconnected the left side of Salem’s brain from the right side. We then removed the affected part of his brain which was causing the seizures through the guidance of special MRI scans in the operating theatre.
Salem was then transferred to Sidra Medicine’s pediatric ICU ward and stayed for a further three weeks, where he underwent physical and occupational therapy. During this time, the medical team were 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 continued: As a physician myself, I was well aware of the complexities of my son’s case and am very impressed with the level of care, professionalism and the team-based approach that Sidra Medicine applied in my son’s treatment.
Prof Ziyad M Hijazi, acting chief medical officer at Sidra Medicine, said: I am proud of our team-based approach that ensured Salem the highest standards of care possible. This is testament to our world-class level of expertise and that we are committed to offering the best paediatric services in the region and beyond. Sidra Medicine has a very strong coordination programme to help with paediatric cases from Kuwait, and this year alone we have taken care of over 40 patients from the country.