Advertisement 1

LHSC epilepsy unit gets $2M in new equipment during shutdown

The largest epilepsy monitoring unit in the country is taking delivery of $2 million in new equipment to help diagnose patients faster and more accurately.

Article content

The largest epilepsy monitoring unit in the country is taking delivery of $2 million in new equipment to help diagnose patients faster and more accurately.

London Health Sciences Centre’s epilepsy monitoring unit at University Hospital has 13 new portable machines to help gather more data and high-quality images of patients experiencing seizures.

Article content

“The information we can capture with this new equipment is processed faster. . . . The quality of the image on the video is far superior than it was before,” said neurologist Jorge Burneo, the chair of neurology in LHSC’s epilepsy program.

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

“We have more equipment than what we had before. We have the potential to do more cases and investigate more people.”

LHSC’s new electroencephalogram (EEG) technology is used to detect electrical activity and abnormalities in the brain. EEGs are crucial tools used to diagnose and investigate a patient’s epileptic seizures and plan surgery or other treatments.

Recommended from Editorial
  1. Dr. Jonathan Romsa, chief, division of nuclear medicine, left, and Stephen Nelli, co-ordinator of nuclear medicine at LHSC, are part of a team that has been preparing for 18 months for the arrival of a new PET/CT scanner at Victoria Hospital in London. Photograph taken Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press)
    LHSC's new state-of-the-art scanner will help diagnose, treat cancers
  2. Keith and Leanne Lavergne are shown at their LaSalle home. The couple donated $1 million to London Health Sciences Centre after Keith received a life-saving kidney transplant.
    A life-saving kidney transplant. A $1-million thank you

The new equipment includes portable EEG machines that can be moved to other hospital units, including intensive care. The devices mean patients can be monitored for seizure activity without being moved to the unit on the top floor of University Hospital.

The equipment marries a typical EEG, where sensors are placed on a patient’s scalp to measure the location and intensity of their seizure activity, with high-resolution video so doctors can see the seizure inside the brain and in the patient’s body at the same time.

In some cases, doctors will implant electrodes surgically into the brains of patients and use the EEG to get more in-depth data on a seizure.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

In Ontario, only LHSC and Toronto Western Hospital are able to provide the implanted electrode procedure to patients, said David Steven, chair of clinical neurological sciences.

The department at University Hospital has an inpatient and outpatient component. In the outpatient rooms, patients may be hooked up to an EEG for about 30 minutes of monitoring. In LHSC’s inpatient epilepsy section, patients may spend up to a month in the unit so clinicians can track and monitor their seizure activity with EEGs and develop a treatment strategy using the data they collect.

The inpatient component of the program can see up to 300 patients a year.

The University Hospital epilepsy program sees patients from across the region and takes referrals from as far away as Winnipeg and Vancouver Island.

In August, the 11-bed epilepsy monitoring unit was forced to close for several weeks due to a critical and unexpected staffing issue. The program has since hired two additional EEG technicians, a highly in-demand medical specialty.

LHSC officials managed to take advantage of the unanticipated downtime by fast-tracking the equipment installation that was scheduled for November, said Patricia Dool, director of clinical neurological sciences.

“We worked with the company who makes this equipment and said we had this window of opportunity,” Dool said. “They were very generous with us and implemented this earlier.”

jbieman@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JenatLFPress

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers