180,000 epilepsy patients in Saudi Arabia

There are over 70 million epilepsy patients worldwide and 180,000 of them are in the Kingdom, according to Majid Al-Fayyadh, director at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center.

He said the neurology department at the hospital has a full medical and surgical team that has done a very delicate operation called "lesionectomy" on 800 patients. The doctors fully removed the lesion responsible for seizures from the patients' brain. "The results so far are positive. Meanwhile, the hospital is looking for new treatment options for epilepsy patients," Al-Fayyad said.

He was speaking at a two-day conference on epilepsy organized by Al-Faisal University. Dr. Muhammad Al-Hayaze, director of the university, said his institution was interested in scientific research in the field and was looking to incorporate the latest developments in treating and diagnosing epilepsy.

President of the Saudi Association of Epilepsy Dr. Raeda Elbaradei said the association organized awareness campaigns around the Kingdom to explain to people how to deal with epilepsy patients. "There are several factors that make a person epileptic. Some people could have had it since birth and it might last with them until death. We introduce patients to many celebrities who are epileptic but live normal lives with the right medications that minimize their symptoms," he said.

"We have invited experts in the epilepsy field from the US. Epilepsy is different from what is called possession. Falling or getting hit hard on the head as well as some genetic factors could cause epilepsy. I would also like to clarify that epilepsy patients can work anywhere except in some industrial sectors. They can drive any vehicle except trucks. There doctors and surgeons who are epileptic. They practice their jobs perfectly after controlling the disease with medications. Also, epileptics can get married, have kids and live a normal life," said Dr. Majid Al-Hameed, chairman of the scientific committee of the epilepsy conference.

"Epilepsy has been discovered 4,000 years ago. The incidence of epilepsy worldwide is 1 in 1,000 people," Al-Hameed said.

He said most medicines used to treat epilepsy do not lead to addiction.