What is it about?
This study was conducted with the aim to study the profile of Indian children with drug-resistant epilepsy, using the new consensus definition of DRE (Kwan, 2010).
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Why is it important?
Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE), a condition in which seizures persist and seizure freedom is unlikely to be attained with further manipulation of anti-epileptic drugs, occurs in around 20% of children with epilepsy. 50 children (12 females) with median (range) age of 90 (11–159) months and follow-up of 17.9 (8.5–20) months were enrolled. The mean (standard deviation) age at seizure onset and start of anti-epileptic drugs (AED) were 1.8 (2.11) and 2.1 (2.09)years, respectively. The median (range) number of anti-epileptic drugs that had been tried in these children was 5 (2–9), with drug side-effects leading to discontinuation in 8 (16%) patients. Only two patients had tried ketogenic diet; vagal nerve stimulation andepilepsy surgery had not been tried by any family, despite recommendation by the physicians in 7 children.
Perspectives
We had thought that being in a tertiary-care center, most of the DRE patients would be found to be receiving all possible therapeutic interventions. However, we found that the majority of children with drug-resistant epilepsy have infrequent access to newer non-pharmacological measures.
Dr Devendra Mishra
Maulana Azad Medical College
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Drug-resistant epilepsy in Indian children at a tertiary-care public hospital, Child s Nervous System, February 2019, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s00381-019-04084-5.
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