RECENT ADVANCES IN MANAGEMENT OF EPILEPSY IN CHILDREN

Abstract

Epilepsy is a major neurological disease among the pediatric age group as it represents 80% of visits to pediatric neurologist clinics.

The history of epilepsy can be summarized as 4000 years of ignorance followed by 100 years of knowledge.

The word epilepsy is derived from Greek word mean to size refers to old magic concept that the disease were, attack, or seizures by gods or demands.

Many families of patients are suffering from the effects and sequelae of epilepsy on quality of life so we must define epilepsy and put our hand on the type of epilepsy according to recent classifications to discover and overcome this problem.

Intractable epilepsy is defined to be refractory if seizures still uncontrolled with occurrence of an average frequency of at least one fit per month for at least 2 years. During that 2 years period, at least three different antiepileptic drugs had have been used daily either singly or in combinations.

Advances in management of refractory epileptic seizures usually reflect advances, which have been evolved over the last years in two main fields, the first involves advances in investigation and evaluation of the refractory epileptic patients and the second involves the recent advances in therapy.