Up to a third of all patients with epilepsy are refractory to medical therapy even in the context of the introduction of new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) with considerable advantages in safety and tolerability over the last two decades. It has been widely accepted that epilepsy surgery is a highly effective therapeutic option in a selected subset of patients with refractory focal seizure. There i...

PURPOSE A proportion of patients with childhood and juvenile absence epilepsies (CAE, JAE) are likely to be classified as medically refractory. In view of evidence gap for the treatment of such patients, this series is reported to generate estimate for efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in this patient population. METHODS Patients were identified by a chart review of all VNS recipients...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and safety of USL255, Qudexy(™) XR (topiramate) extended-release capsules, as an adjunctive treatment for refractory partial-onset seizures (POS) in adults taking one to three concomitant antiepileptic drugs. METHODS In this global phase III study (PREVAIL; NCT01142193), 249 adults with POS were randomized 1:1 to once-daily USL255 (200 mg/day) or placebo. Th...

BACKGROUND A proportion of patients with epilepsy are still without seizure control. This open study aims to evaluate the effect and tolerability in consecutive patients treated with the new antiepileptic drug levetiracetam. MATERIALS AND METHODS 184 adult patients were followed up for an average period of 8.1 months. 166 patients (90%) had refractory epilepsy, defined as having seizures more...

OBJECTIVES This study has been conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of topiramate in refractory epilepsies in infants and young children. METHODS A prospective clinical trial was performed in three tertiary care hospitals, on 47 children aged 6-60 months with refractory epilepsy. Topiramate was added to at least two baseline anti-epileptic drugs. The efficacy was rated according to sei...

PURPOSE To investigate early predictors (6 months after diagnosis) of refractory epilepsy. METHODS STUDY DESIGN prospective cohort study. INCLUSION CRITERIA all consecutive children <14 years with two or more unprovoked seizures 24h apart, who were seen at our hospital between 1994 and 2004. EXCLUSION CRITERIA patients previously examined in other centres. DEFINITIONS refractory epil...

how to cite this article: karimzadeh p, ashrafi mr, bakhshandeh bali mk, nasehi mm, taheri otaghsara sm, taghdiri mm, ghofrani m. zonisamide efficacy as adjunctive therapy in children with refractory epilepsy. iran j child neurol. 2013 spring; 7(2):37-42. objective approximately one third of epileptic children do not achieve complete seizure improvement. zonisamide is a new antiepileptic drug w...

BACKGROUND Very few studies have specifically addressed surgical treatment and outcome of patients with tumor-related temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). AIM To define the postoperative seizure outcome and the factors that influenced the outcome of patients with tumor-related TLE. MATERIALS AND METHODS We selected patients whose surgical pathology revealed a temporal lobe neoplasm and who had com...

PURPOSE Epilepsy surgery is performed based on the assumption that medical refractory epilepsy will continue. Rarely seizure freedom occurs before surgery is performed, while the patient is being evaluated as an epilepsy surgery candidate. The aim of this study was to describe the number of children withdrawn from an epilepsy surgery programme due to unexpected seizure improvement. METHODS We...