Comprehensive Epilepsy Clinic (CEC)

Clinician points to a model of the brain

The comprehensive epilepsy clinic is specifically designed for children diagnosed with Drug Resistant Epilepsy (DRE). Around one-third of all epilepsy patients will continue to have seizures despite trials of two or more well tolerated and well selected anti-seizure drugs; this is called drug-resistant epilepsy. These children will benefit from our state of the art, highly specialized comprehensive epilepsy clinic at the Children’s Hospital, LHSC.

It is now well known that the quality of life for these children and their families is affected significantly in a negative way due to seizure severity, comorbid conditions and the significant side effects resulting from the use of multiple drugs at the same time (polypharmacy). Our Paediatric Epileptologists, Dr. Andrea Andrade, Dr. Maryam Nouri, and Dr. Narayan Prasad at Children’s Hospital, LHSC have put together a multi-disciplinary team to create individual treatment plans for each child seen in this clinic.

This clinic provides advanced treatment options such as; ketogenic diet, new medications, and surgical interventions (epilepsy surgery and the vagal nerve stimulator). In conjunction with our Paediatric Neurosurgeon, Dr. Sandrine DeRibaupierre, we offer surgical therapies for well selected candidates. At this time, based on scientific evidence surgery is the only possible curative procedure for epilepsy and we are dedicated to explore this pathway for some children. Those who are offered surgery will be followed closely by the CEC team as well as the neurosurgery team throughout the entire process.

For families coming to this clinic, please be aware that this may be a longer appointment (1-3 hours) as you may be seeing several of the following team members during each visit. This is to provide a comprehensive approach for your child’s complex epilepsy.