Singh, Gagandeep

Abstract Objective There is a need to develop a comprehensive, formalized, and globally applicable epilepsy surgery curriculum in order to help standardize the quality of epilepsy surgery practice in the world. Methods The Epilepsy Surgery Educational Task Force of the ILAE developed a competency‐based epilepsy surgery educational curriculum comprised of four domains: Diagnosis, Counseling, Pre‐surgical Work‐up, and Surgical Techniques. To evaluate this educational curriculum, a survey questionnaire consisting of 11 items was sent out for feedback to ILAE and IESS members. The survey questionnaire asked respondents to rate the degree of importance of each competency on a five‐point scale that ranged from “extremely important” to “not at all important” and provided space for free text comments. All competencies that were rated as “slightly important” or “somewhat important” by more than 10% of responders, as well as all free text feedback comments, were fully reviewed, and the final curriculum was adjusted accordingly. Results One hundred and twenty‐two responses ( n = 122) were submitted by the ILAE and IESS communities. Seventy‐one percent (71.9%) of the responses came from neurosurgeons of varied experience and training levels. Ninety‐four percent (94.4%) of responders stated that they “support a curriculum to determine the competency of neurosurgeons participating in the care of people with epilepsy in my country,” and 94.3% confirmed that they “would be interested in taking or would recommend an ILAE course based on these competencies, that would provide an ILAE certificate of completion.” Relevant changes within the curriculum were made based on feedback. Significance The newly developed ILAE comprehensive epilepsy surgery educational curriculum has a high level of support from neurosurgeons and neurologists around the world and shows potential for broad acceptance and implementation.

COVID-19 infection in the pediatric population usually leads to a mild illness; however, a rare but serious complication of MIS-C has been seen in children. MIS-C usually presents 2–4 weeks after COVID-19 infection or exposure, and rare reports have been documented in neonates. Vaccinations for COVID-19 have been approved for children aged 6 months and above in the United States, and recent reports suggest significantly low prevalence and risk of complications of Multi-organ Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) in vaccinated children compared to unvaccinated children. Vaccinations for COVID-19 are safe and recommended during pregnancy and prevent severe maternal morbidity and adverse birth outcomes. Evidence from other vaccine-preventable diseases suggests that through passive transplacental antibody transfer, maternal vaccinations are protective against infections in infants during the first 6 months of life. Various studies have demonstrated that maternal COVID-19 vaccination is associated with the presence of anti-spike protein antibodies in infants, persisting even at 6 months of age. Further, completion of a 2-dose primary mRNA COVID-19 vaccination series during pregnancy is associated with reduced risk for COVID-19–associated hospitalization among infants aged 6 months or less. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that maternal COVID-19 vaccination can reduce the risk of and severity of MIS-C in infants. In this article, we review the literature to support this hypothesis.