Fattori predittivi di farmacoresistenza nelle epilessie in età evolutiva: Studio su un campione di 159 pazienti

We evaluated the response to therapy vs the type of epilepsy and other clinical parameters, in a sample of 159 paediatric patients, monitored over an average period of 4 years and 9 months. The first therapy was modified for ineffectiveness in 59 subjects (37.1%). 32.2% of the patients who have had their therapy modified, have continued with the second treatment through the whole follow-up, while the others have had their therapy modified again. Globally, 121 patients (76.1%) had no seizures for at least one year: among these, 78.5% with the first monotherapy; 11,6% with the second therapeutic treatment; 9.9% with a subsequent therapy. Among the evaluated prognostic factors, significant associations emerged between: drug resistance and pathologic neurological tests (p = 0.04); and drug response and familiarity with epilepsy (p = 0.01). Our data agree also with previous results, indicating better prognosis in idiopathic with respect to symptomatic and cryptogenic epilepsies.