Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the risk factors on seizure recurrence after antiepileptic drug withdrawal in children with idiopathic epilepsy.

Material and Methods: The treatment is withdrawn within 4-6 months in all patients who had normal magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalogram results on at least 24 months of antiepileptic drug treatment. After drug withdrawal 72 patients had seizure recurrence in whom labeled as relapse group. Eighty-two patients had no seizure recurrence are labeled as remission group.

Results: The age of diagnosis with epilepsy and remission time were observed as risk factors on seizure recurrence. It is determined that after drug withdrawal seizure recurrence is occurred within the first 2 years of follow-up in 95,9 % of the relapse group’s patients.

Conclusion: In patients, who had more than 3 months of seizure remission time have more seizure recurrence risk after drug withdrawal. Furthermore, it is observed that in patients older than 12 years old the risk of recurrence is higher. Besides, we suggest 2 years of close follow-up in all patients whose antiepileptic drug is withdrawn.

Keywords: Epilepsy, Seizure, Drug withdrawal

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Copyright and license

Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Taktak A, Özkan M, Zorlu P. Risk Factors For Seizure Recurrence After Antiepileptic Drug Withdrawal in Children with Idiopathic Epilepy. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2021 May 25 [cited 2025 Aug. 23];15(3):198-202. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/787