Epilepsy Center

The HIMA•San Pablo Hospital creates the first Epilepsy Center in Puerto Rico. The unit has six rooms to monitor seizures -24 hours- with cameras and electrodes on the patient’s head, and a team of specialists in epilepsy.

This technology is known as Video-EEG (VEEG) with Telemetry. This study is essential for the evaluation of patients with epilepsy, especially difficult to diagnose or do not respond to medication indicated. It is essential in the presurgical evaluation of patients with refractory epilepsy medication, useful in differentiating epileptic seizures fundamental to evaluate patients with sleep disorders non-epileptic seizures (pseudoseizures) and it is fundamental to evaluate patients with sleep disorders.

The fundamental objective of VEEG is to obtain simultaneous recording of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and patient behavior during seizures, obtaining clinical and electrical sequence of the crisis that allow us to identify the region or hemisphere onset of epileptic discharge. Moreover it makes possible to observe details of the semiotics of the crisis to identify the kind of the patient’s crisis.

Intensive Monitoring Unit

Central of Rereading

The Central of Rereading for doctors and technicians is very important because it is where they review, discuss and study reports. The studies recorded can be seen repeatedly, changing working conditions, enabling better results.

The Recording System

The EEG recording system is performed in a computerized digital format that facilitates acquisition and data review. The study is reviewed in different assemblies, both referential and bipolar, you can change the filters, time constants and add electrocardiographic and respiratory aids. It also allows easy access to any part of the study for review. To register with surface electrodes it requires at least 16 electrodes, in our unit we use a minimum of 20 channels, adding ancillary where they are needed. An automatic detector program of events and pins can be used, in our case the form of event detection is more traditional and is through technicians and physicians that mark events that occur as the study is done. Our unit has split system log-Screen, where the monitor screen is divided into two parts, one where the image of the patient is and in the other the EEG record. This system allows you to see the clinical and EEG behaviors simultaneously and is very useful from a clinical point of view and teaching. This method is the most widely used in the reference centers for the study of epilepsy.

Patient Admission

A medical history of the patient is done where the monitoring program is carried out and the possible duration of the same is planned, which is not fixed, but depends on each particular case and the number of crisis that needs to be registered. The monitoring unit is ready to register for 5 days in a row in case the desired results are not obtained, the patient is asked to return for a second stage of monitoring, as many days as needed. When the patient arrives at the unit receives the second questionnaire on the frequency of crisis, kind, and the precipitating factors of the attacks. This is very important, because depending on the examination and diagnostic hypothesis, the assembly used is chosen and if the use of some additional parameter is required.