CONy 2020 | Treating psychogenic seizures in the US veteran population using video telehealth
William Curt LaFrance, MD, MPH, FAAN, FANPA, DFAPA, Brown University, Providence, RI, discusses the prevalence of psychogenic seizures in the US military veteran population. In the US, out of 83,000 veterans diagnosed with seizures, 20-30% are of non-epileptic psychogenic origin. However, many of them are prescribed anti-seizure drugs which may not be effective. Through collaboration with the Epilepsy Centers of Excellence, veterans have been offered comprehensive neuropsychiatric evaluations, via online video appointments. Veterans who had been diagnosed in the Seizure Monitoring Units with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures were offered the seizure therapy, described in the study in Epilepsia (LaFrance, et al, Epilepsia 2020). This interview took place during the Virtual World Congress on Controversies in Neurology (CONy) 2020.
Disclosures
Dr. LaFrance has served on the editorial boards of Epilepsia, Epilepsy & Behavior; Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, and Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences; receives editor’s royalties from the publication of Gates and Rowan’s Nonepileptic Seizures, 3rd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and 4th ed. (2018); author’s royalties for Taking Control of Your Seizures: Workbook and Therapist Guide (Oxford University Press, 2015); has received research support from the Department of Defense (DoD W81XWH-17-0169), NIH (NINDS 5K23NS45902 [PI]), Providence VAMC, Center for Neurorestoration and Neurorehabilitation, Rhode Island Hospital, the American Epilepsy Society (AES), the Epilepsy Foundation (EF), Brown University and the Siravo Foundation; serves on the Epilepsy Foundation New England Professional Advisory Board, the Board of the Functional Neurological Disorder Society, and on the Council of the American Neuropsychiatric Association; has received honoraria for the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting Annual Course; has served as a clinic development consultant at University of Colorado Denver, Cleveland Clinic, Spectrum Health, Emory University, and Oregon Health Sciences University; and has provided medico-legal expert testimony.
