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CME: Therapeutic Updates, Best Practices, and Barriers to Care in the Prevention and Treatment of Epilepsy and Seizure Disorders

ACCREDITATION EXPIRED: March 22, 2015

Activity Description / Statement of Need:

Epilepsy, which is defined as temporary abnormal excessive synchronous neuronal activity in the brain that results in seizures, is one of the most common neurological disorders and affects more than two million people in the United States.  A significant number of patients do not receive sufficient treatment due to inappropriate diagnosis, ineffective treatment and  socioeconomic conditions, which results in lower quality of life and poorer health outcomes.  In addition, lack of treatment leads to limiting patient’s social life and other normal activities and is associated with cardiometabolic risk factors that predict a shorter lifespan like smoking and obesity.

 

In last 20 years, 20 new AEDs have been approved by the FDA, formulations of older drugs have been optimized, and the treatment armamentarium has seen the introduction of therapy with medical devices such as vagus nerve stimulation. While advances in the treatment and control of epilepsy may promise more avenues to attaining a better quality of life for patients, they also argue in favor of continuing education in order to keep clinicians abreast of the range of treatments present at their disposal.  And in spite of advances in therapy, 30% of patients are refractory to any treatment.  Another challenge is non-adherence to prescribed therapy, which is one of the major challenges in treatment of epilepsy; providers must learn to skillfully discern, prevent, and minimize existing contributors to non-adherence to therapy in the interest of improving patient outcomes.

 

In summation, potential gaps in care outlined above that underscore the need for continuing education include: a third of patients failing to achieve seizure control with first therapy, necessitating provider familiarity with alternatives; treatment modalities with narrow therapeutic indices and a range of drug interactions that may affect otherwise unrelated comorbid disease states; advances in care in which providers may not be fully versed or cognizant; and barriers to adherence that persist. 

 

This free online CME program has been designed to bring healthcare professionals’ knowledge of and competence in the diagnosis, treatment, and barriers to care in patients with epilepsy and related seizure disorders.

 

Agenda

 

 

Epidemiology of and risk factors for epileptic seizures

•          Statistics (incidence and prevalence)

•          Types of epilepsy

•          Causes and risk factors

Diagnosis of epilepsy

•          History and physical

•          Differential diagnosis and diagnostic criteria

•          EEG and neuroimaging

•          Patient cases

Treatment and management of epilepsy

•          Identification and avoidance of triggers

•          Dietary therapy

•          Review safety measures

•          AED mono- and combination therapy

•          Nuances in therapy associated with different seizure disorders

•          Pharmacokinetic monitoring of AEDs

•          Role of newer epileptics in treatment of different types of epilepsy

•          Minimizing adverse effects

•          The role of medical devices

•          Refractory conditions and status epilepticus

•          Surgical intervention

•          Best practice: putting it all together

•          Patient cases

Barriers to optimal care in patients diagnosed with epilepsy

•          The impact of comorbid neuropsychiatric disorders and taking them into account

•          Medication nonadherence, adverse effects, and drug-drug interactions

•          Monitoring: efficacy and safety

•          Patient cases

Summary, conclusions, and best practice recap

 

 

Target Audience:

Healthcare professionals including emergency medicine specialists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, primary care physicians, psychiatrists, and anyone who is otherwise involved in providing care for patients with epilepsy and related seizure disorders, complications, and comorbid neuropsychiatric sequelae.

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Commercial Support Disclosure: This program is supported by  educational grants from  Cyberonics.

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Release Date: March 22, 2013 -- Expiration Date: March 22, 2015

Faculty: Kristin Ditch, PharmD

Agenda

Learning Objectives

Accreditation

Faculty Disclosure and Resolution of COI

Instructions

System Requirements