Abstracts

Introduction: Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders, affecting more than 50 million people worldwide. More than 80 per 100 000 people develop new-onset epilepsy every year, most commonly during childhood and in old age. 50 60% of adults and children are expected to achieve seizure remission with medical management. However, 30 40% of patients remain refractory to pharmacological treatment. Epilepsy is associated with cognitive deterioration, psychosocial and family dysfunction, increased morbidity and mortality, expensive treatments, and poor quality of life. Early recognition of refractory epilepsy could potentially ameliorate these adverse consequences. Factors associated with refractory epilepsy are onset during the first year of life, type of epilepsy, failure of first antiepileptic drug (AED) within the first 6 months of therapy, temporal location of the epileptogenic focus, underlying brain damage, and specific EEG patterns.