Epilepsy: Indian perspective

Abstract

There are 50 million people living with epilepsy worldwide, and most of them reside in developing countries. About 10 million persons with epilepsy are there in India. Many people with active epilepsy do not receive appropriate treatment for their condition, leading to large treatment gap. The lack of knowledge of antiepileptic drugs, poverty, cultural beliefs, stigma, poor health infrastructure, and shortage of trained professionals contribute for the treatment gap. Infectious diseases play an important role in seizures and long-term burden causing both new-onset epilepsy and status epilepticus. Proper education and appropriate health care services can make tremendous change in a country like India. There have been many original researches in various aspects of epilepsy across India. Some of the geographically specific epilepsies occur only in certain regions of our country which have been highlighted by authors. Even the pre-surgical evaluation and epilepsy surgery in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy is available in many centers in our country. This article attempts to provide a complete preview of epilepsy in India.

Keywords: Epilepsy in India; epilepsy surgery; hot water epilepsy; progressive myoclonic epilepsy; status epilepticus; treatment gap; women with epilepsy.

Figure 1

(a) Intraneuronal PAS-positive, diastase-resistant Lafora body in the cytoplasm of neurons in the cerebral cortex (×160); (b) PAS-positive diastase-resistant Lafora bodies along the base of apocrine sweat glands within the myoepithelial cells (×160)