SESSION 1    |  6:00 - 7:20 PM (CST)

Introduction

Imad Najm, MD
Director, Cleveland Clinic's Epilepsy Center
Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute
Cleveland, OH, USA

Evolution of Treating DRE: Pharmacology and Surgery

Jacqueline French, MD
Professor, Department of Neurology, NYU
Grossman School of Medicine
New York City, NY, USA

Jeffrey Arle, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Chief, Division of Neurosurgery, Harvard Neurosurgical Associates at Mount Auburn
Cambridge, MA, USA

Description: Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) is a difficult- to- treat disease consisting of one-third of all epilepsy patients. In this session, we will present the evolution of DRE treatment options over the past century. We will focus on the evolution of both antiseizure medications and nonpharmacological treatment options, including surgery and neuromodulation and evidence to support their use.

SESSION 2    |  7:30 - 8:30 PM (CST)

Precision Medicine in Epilepsy

Manu Hegde, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Neurology, UCSF 
Weill Institute of Neurosciences
San Francisco, CA, USA

George Ibrahim, MD, PhD
Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Division of Neurosurgery
Toronto Sick Kids
Toronto, Canada

Description: This session will focus on the future of epilepsy treatment algorithms by discussing precision medicine for DRE patients. We will discuss factors for early identification of patients at higher risk for DRE, early research into biomarkers that maybe used to predict pharmacological treatment success, and how precision medicine can be used preoperatively to identify the ideal surgical candidate.