Events Calendar

Tan Kah Kee Professor

Professor Steven Schachter
Director of Research
Department of Neurology
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Harvard Medical School

Host: Institute of Advanced Studies
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Overall Lecture Programs

 Abstracts

 “Overview of Epilepsy” (1 hour)
NTU/SBS; 22 Oct 08, 2 pm – 3 pm

Epilepsy is a common neurological condition that affects approximately 1% of the population in developed countries. Common causes include congenital brain malformations, head injury, brain tumors, stroke, and intracranial infection, though notably up to 50% of patients have no identifiable cause. 

Seizures are the primary symptoms of epilepsy. The primary goal of treatment is to completely suppress seizures without causing troublesome side effects. Therapy in most of the world consists of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), which are selected for individual patients based on a number of factors, including the patient’s seizure type (generalized or partial), age, gender and concomitant medical/psychiatric conditions; and cost.  AEDs are generally prescribed and taken by patients for years; except for patients with epilepsy syndromes that spontaneously remit.

Initial treatment with a single AED achieves seizure freedom without side effects in up to 75% of patients. The prognosis for complete seizure control in the other 25% of patients is less favorable. These patients often require combinations of AEDs, and in some parts of the world they may be evaluated for possible brain surgery to remove the part of their brain causing seizures, or for other non-pharmacological therapies such as special diets or brain stimulation. 

“TCM and Epilepsy” (1 hour)
NTU/SBS; 5 Nov 08, 2 pm – 4.15 pm

Over the centuries, a large number of Asian herbal medicines have traditionally been used to treat convulsive diseases, often in combination with acupuncture. Published reports suggest that several of these herbs may be neuroprotective, while others show efficacy in animal models of epilepsy and hippocampal slice models.

Published clinical studies have reported on over 135 different herbs used singly or in 80 different combination formulas for the treatment of seizures. The ten most frequently used herbs in published reports are: Pinella ternate (Ban Xia), Arisaemi japonicum (Tian Nan Xing), Acorus calamus (Shi Chang Pu), Gastrodia elata (Tian Ma), Buthus martensii (Quan Xie), Poria cocos (Fu Ling), Bombyx bartryticatus (Jiang Qiang), Citrus reticulate (Chen Pi), Uncaria rhynchophylla (Gou Teng), Glycyrrhiza glaba (Gan Cao), and Salivae miltiorrhizae (Dan Shen). The majority of these studies are observational, including case reports.

Scientific studies of the use of herbal medicines for epilepsy have been limited by inconsistent descriptions of herbal acquisition and extraction methods, lack of characterization and further in vitro and in vivo testing of the active constituent compounds, and inadequately described clinical study designs and patient populations.

“Neurotechnology and Epilepsy” (1 hour)
NTU/SBS; 5 Nov 08, 2 pm – 4.15 pm & NUS Med Sch; 23 Oct 08, 4 pm – 5 pm

Despite an unprecedented increase in the number of drugs for the treatment of epilepsy, seizures in approximately 25% of patients do not respond to pharmacological treatment. Only a small fraction of these patients qualify for therapeutic brain surgery or other non-pharmacological therapies.

The integration of engineering sciences with medicine has resulted in new opportunities to improve upon the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. Enhancements in methods for imaging the brain may reveal the anatomic source of seizures in patients for whom conventional radiographic techniques are unrevealing. Wearable seizure prediction and detection devices offer the potential to warn patients of impending seizures or to automatically trigger treatments that would prevent the seizure or lessen its severity. New methods for directly stimulating the brain are currently being tested in patients with pharmacologically resistant seizures as are novel intracranial treatment systems that sense seizures, alter brain temperature or release drugs directly to the brain tissue that gives rise to seizures.

These technological advances offer hope to patients for whom available therapies are inadequate. Challenges that need to be addressed include demonstration of safety and effectiveness, selection of patients most likely to benefit and costs.

“Epilepsy Through the Eyes of Artists” (1 hour)
National Library; 1 Nov 08, 2.30 pm – 4pm

The creative works of artists with epilepsy provide insights into their epilepsy-related experiences, and thereby are instructive to clinicians and scientists and can be useful to facilitate communication between patients and their physicians. Furthermore, publicly celebrating these works recognizes the contributions to society of persons with epilepsy. I have been collecting art from contemporary persons with epilepsy over the past 15 years, now amounting to over 1,200 pieces from 52 artists, and have featured many of these works in calendars, on journal and book covers, and in a book of collected art. There are four general themes in this collection: seizures and the post-ictal state, psychiatric co-morbidity (especially depression, anxiety and psychosis), psychosocial aspects of epilepsy (isolation from society, stigma and daily reminders of living with epilepsy) and non-epilepsy related subjects.

Study of the collection suggests that the art of contemporary artists with epilepsy expresses epilepsy-related experiences, shows that people with epilepsy can contribute to society, facilitates an understanding of patients’ perspectives about epilepsy, raises interesting research questions and may be enjoyed on its own merits as works of art.