The new treatments for epilepsy

We talk about epilepsy and the new treatments in the episode of "15 minutes with..." the in-depth talk on the health of the Cagliari university hospital in collaboration with the Unione Sarda group, which will be broadcast live on Tuesday 21 March at 5 pm on the social networks of the Aou of Cagliari (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter), on the website www.aoucagliari.it, on the Facebook page of the Unione Sarda and on www.unionesarda.it. As always, viewers will be able to ask questions live. On Wednesday, readers of the Unione Sarda will find in-depth information in the newspaper's “Salute” insert.
Guests of the column, conducted by journalist Fabrizio Meloni, head of Communications and External Relations of the Aou, will be Professor Monica Puligheddu, neurologist of the Duilio Casula Polyclinic and Professor Roberto Sanfilippo, vascular surgeon of the Aou of Cagliari.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by a predisposition to the onset of epileptic seizures. It is one of the most frequent neurological diseases and in Sardinia it affects about 50 people for every 100,000 inhabitants.

The causes are different depending on whether it is a partial or generalized form. Partial seizures originate from an epileptogenic focus in a region of the cerebral cortex, while generalized seizures, unlike the first ones, involve the whole cerebral cortex and normally cause a complete loss of consciousness.
Treatment for the condition varies. If we are talking about a single epileptic seizure, this should not be treated pharmacologically, except in very special cases, when instead we talk about epilepsy, i.e. the tendency to repeat epileptic seizures, we require a treatment that must be continued at least until the episodes are completely controlled. The subject changes when we talk about drug-resistant epilepsy, in this case a valid therapeutic alternative for patients who suffer from it is the stimulation, through surgery, of the VSN vagus nerve.
The talk “15 minutes with…” is edited by Aou Cagliari News, the newspaper of the university hospital. An agile and simple format, it includes 15 minutes of discussions with specialists and the possibility for the public to ask questions live.