Epilepsy monitoring unit coming to Saskatoon's RUH

There are about 10,000 people in Saskatchewan who are living with epilepsy.

While many can control their seizures with medication, some can greatly benefit from surgery to improve their quality of life.

Those people got good news Monday when the province announced it will spend $1.35 million annually to establish a four-bed epilepsy monitoring unit at Saskatoon's Royal University Hospital (RUH)

The annual operational funding will start in 2020. The RUH Foundation has committed to raising $1.2 million for the cost of capital and equipment.

"It's a really exciting announcement for our patients as this type of a monitoring system for people living with seizure disorders gives us the ability to diagnose and treat patients that are living with seizure disorder and epilepsy," said Corey Miller, the vice president of provincial programs with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

The telemetry unit monitors the electrical activity in a patient's brain over an extended time to determine if surgery would benefit the patient.

"This monitoring system will allow us to determine where their seizure activity is coming from in their brain and allow us to work with our clinical teams to remove that area to help them go on and live with much higher quality of life," Miller said.

There is already epilepsy monitoring available at RUH. Currently, it moves from room to room through the hospital's neurology unit. The new dedicated monitoring unit will greatly improve access to services.

"Having a dedicated unit keeps those patients with like conditions together and allows them to have this type of an assessment done in a much more dignified way," Miller said.

Two beds equipped for pediatric epilepsy telemetry services will also become available this fall with the opening of the Jim Pattison Children's Hospital.

The Saskatchewan Epilepsy Program is led by Dr. Jose Tllez-Zenteno.