Impact of epilepsy training on school teachers and counselors: An intervention study in Lebanon.

This study aimed to evaluate the immediate impact of an epilepsy training through the administration of a questionnaire (in Arabic) before and immediately after the intervention in Lebanese public and private schools. This project is part of an awareness campaign applied to 3 groups of teachers and counselors and consisted of a pretest, a unified conference and a posttest. The statistical analysis used the McNemar and Stuart Maxwell tests (statistical significance level of 0.05). 73 participants completed the questionnaires. The majority were female (68.5%), aged less than 39 years (57%) and familiar with epilepsy. A positive impact of the training was found regarding the effect of epilepsy on schooling, seizures manifestations, psychological effects, seizure first aid and the possibility of curing epilepsy with surgery. Most of our participants recognized that children with epilepsy have a comparable IQ to others. They did not exhibit a discriminatory attitude against people with epilepsy in terms of the direct attitude towards them, employment or marriage. This is one of few studies done worldwide demonstrating an immediate positive effect of epilepsy training among school teachers. Future research should be undertaken to develop robust training models to destigmatize epilepsy.

Percutaneous radiofrequency coagulation of osteoid osteoma of the "Neural Spinal Ring".

STUDY DESIGN: Three cases of osteoid osteomas of the spine, adjacent to neural elements, were treated with CT-guided thermal coagulation. OBJECTIVE: To present an alternative method to conventional treatment of spinal osteoid osteoma. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Percutaneous CT-guided radiofrequency coagulation has been successfully used for osteoid osteoma of the extremities. The conventional management of spinal osteoid osteoma is by surgical resection. METHOD: Three patients with osteoid osteoma of the spine, adjacent to neural structures, were treated by percutaneous radiofrequency ablation. The procedure was performed in the CT room under general anesthesia and CT guidance. The thermocoagulation electrode was heated at 90 degrees C for 4 min. RESULTS: Two patients left the hospital the same day; the third one was kept 24 h for observation. All of them had total pain relief within 48 h following the procedure. No complications were recorded. There was no evidence of recurrence after a mean follow-up period of 17 months. CONCLUSION: Osteoid osteoma of the spine, adjacent to neural structures, can effectively and safely be treated by minimally invasive percutaneous CT guided radiofrequency coagulation.