Pediatrics

Commission Members

Aims

• To promote knowledge of childhood epilepsy– related issues around the world, both at a scientific and a healthcare level.
• To contribute to the nosology of childhood epilepsy through international workshops of experts.
• To contribute to research on the etiological bases of childhood onset epilepsy through networking of research centers.
• To establish standards and guidelines for medical and surgical treatment through consensus meetings of international experts comparing different cross-cultural experiences.

Achievements prior to July 2003

Members of the Pediatric Commission have been in charge of the neonatal and pediatric related issues that have been elaborated by the ILAE Task Force in the proposed “Diagnostic scheme for people with epileptic seizures and with epilepsy” that was published in Epilepsia in 2001. Members of the Commission have participated in or chaired the Epilepsy Summer Courses held at the International School of Neurological Sciences in San Servolo, Venice, that have been attended by numerous
students from around the world.

Commission Activities July 31, 2003 to June 30, 2004

The commission met at the International Epilepsy meeting, in Lisbon, 15 October and at the European Conference of Epileptology, Vien, June 2004. The commission has been working on the WHO-based guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of childhood epilepsy. This is an international effort that will be addressed in modular fashion that will be adaptable to both industrialized countries and countries with limited resources. Activities on this subject are still ongoing. During this period the Commission elaborated the plan of the 2004 Venezia Summer Course that was devoted to Epilepsy in Children. The course was almost entirely sponsored offering 44 pediatricians and young epileptologists from around the world to benefit through bursaries allowing them to participate in this highly interactive course. Several Commission members participated in the whole course as tutors and teachers. During the course a Commission workshop on classification issues of neonatal seizure disorders was held, chaired by Mizrahi. A workshop on pediatric epilepsy surgery held in Dordogne, France, was organised by H. Cross and O. Delalande for the Subcommission on Pediatric Epilepsy surgery. This Subcommission is transversal to Epilepsy Surgery Commission and the Commission on Pediatrics. R. Guerrini was invited for the Commission on Pediatrics and made the meeting conclusions. H. Cross is in charge of finalizing a consensus statement delineating the Subcommission’s position with respect to indications for pediatric epilepsy surgery.

Upcoming Activities

On 15-16 November, a one-day workshop on the Nosology of the Epilepsies in the First 3 Years of Life will be held in Pisa, again under the auspices of the Pediatric Commission. This meeting will in part continue the work that will be started in Venice and will expand it to include infants and young children. The output of these two days of work in Venice and Pisa and of additional invited experts will be transmitted to the Classification Task Force. The second day of the Pisa meeting will be the Claudio Munari 2004 Workshop, devoted this year to Early Epilepsy Surgery. It will be organised in such a way to represent a sort of natural continuation of the activities of the previous day. It is planned that the most outstanding information from this two-day workshop will be published, possibly in an Epilepsia supplement. Commission members are interacting with international experts on guidelines in order to finalize the work on the WHO-based guidelines that was initiated during the previous year.

Renzo Guerrini
Chair