Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders affecting the brain. Worldwide, 50 million people have epilepsy. According to a world Health Organization (WHO) survey, epilepsy accounts for 1% of the global burden of disease. In developed countries, around 50 people per 100.000 develop epilepsy each year. The incidence is higher in developing countries, 80% epilepsy patients are residing in developing countries.
Epilepsy lead to a lot of complicated problems to be solved. A Complexity of problems of epilepsy can be viewed from which country of origin of its patients. Developing countries have more complicated problems than developed countries. In developing countries epilepsy become a common, largely untreated disorder because of the limited medication, diagnostic options for epilepsy care and the social and economic problems faced as a consequence of having epilepsy.
Another point of views, complexity of these problems also can be classified into medical and non medical aspects. Problems in medical aspects-such as diagnosis, treatment and its physical complication due to seizures which could be harmful for patients life- give a unique challenges to look for solutions in order to provide good care. Up to 50-60% of patients with chronic epilepsy have various mood disorders, cognitive and memory impairment result in reduction of their quality of life. Patient with epilepsy are at higher risk of developing comorbid psychiatric illness, when compared with population-based controls. The broad-ranging impact of epilepsy in terms of its etiology, investigation, treatment and effect on daily life indicates the potential scope of involvement for clinical neuropsychologist into the comprehensive epilepsy program.
A comprehensive epilepsy program is a multi-specialty team (physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, and specialized technical help) who provide an organized approach to the management of people with complex problems related to epilepsy. A comprehensive epilepsy treatment program is a key concept in management of epilepsy. By working together as a team, the specialist, the general practitioner and the epilepsy spiecialist community worker can ensure that the quality of life of epilepsy patients can be improved.
The field of neuropsychology has provided significant role to the study of epilepsy for more than 70 years. Neuropsychologists, recognized by other professionals as playing a unique and important role in evaluating psychological aspects are considered key personel for epilepsy centers.
The importances of neuropsychological assessment are firstly to evaluate the delineation of the person’s intellectual strengths and weaknesses, with respect to a particular brains lesion, possibly evaluating potential cognitive deterioration. Secondly with some limitation, neuropsychological assessment could be predict the location of an apileptic focus in the lack of good neuroimaging data such as electroencephalograms (EEGs).
The success of clinical neuropsychological services may depend primarily on our ability to improve the time and cost efficiency of evaluations. Ensuring the success of neuropsychology in medical specialties rests on our ability to educate our consumers regarding the purposes for and utility of our services. Further studies are needed that compare performance of patients across a range of similar tests in order to help the practitioner know which scores really constitute evidence of cognitive impairment.
