Abstracts

Rationale: Access to medical care is a major indicator of long-term health outcomes. Epilepsy surgery is a key treatment option for patients with focal drug-resistant epilepsy, playing an essential role in reducing seizure frequency and increasing quality of life. Despite such evidence, patient’s access to and understanding about epilepsy surgery remains limited. We assessed and compared patient’s overall understanding of epilepsy surgery across health care systems in Canada, Mexico, and Colombia. Methods: Adults with focal epilepsy were given a 10 minutes survey assessing: (1) knowledge of surgical options, (2) perceptions about the risks of surgery vs. ongoing seizures, (3) disease disability, (4) treatment goals, and (5) demographic and socioeconomic variables. The responses contributed to a qualitative analysis of patient knowledge regarding surgical treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy and the development of a “Barriers to Epilepsy Surgery Composite” (BESC) score. Results: This cross-sectional survey was completed by about 100 people in each country (N = 306). Patients have adequate access to healthcare professionals to discuss surgery as a treatment option. There was a higher percentage of patients that knew that epilepsy surgery was an option in Canada in comparison with Colombia and Mexico. A big barrier to surgical treatment was the stigma to the surgery presented by family and friends of the patient across all three countries. Similarly, epilepsy surgery was presumed to be moderately or very dangerous amongst the majority of those surveyed. Consequently, the majority of patients consider the surgical procedure as the last option of treatment. More specific comparative data will be presented at the meeting.  Conclusions: Access to surgical care by drug-resistant epilepsy patients is hindered due to apprehension and a general lack of understanding regarding this treatment option. These perceptions contribute to delays in surgical care. In our study we found similar perceptions about stigma and knowledge of epilepsy surgery between patients from Mexico, Canada and Colombia. More patients from Canada kew that epilepsy surgery was an option for their treatment than the other countries.   Funding: None