A long-term follow-up and clinical study of epileptics whose medication was terminated.

Abstract

It has generally been accepted even by epileptologists that the prognosis of epilepsy is poor with a few exceptions such as typical absence or BECCT and that a majority of patients need to take antiepileptic drugs for a lifelong period, as reviewed by Rodin in 1968.'' Recent prospective follow-up studies carried out by Reynolds et ~ 1 . ~ 9-11 l3 or the Mayo clinic groups' ', however, indicated a much more favorable prognosis of epilepsy. We previously reported on 15 epileptics with various seizure types including West or Lennox syndrome who succeeded in discontinuation of drugs without any relapse of seizures thereafter at least for several years and proposed criteria for the termination of treatment (Table l).I4 Now we report the results of a follow-up study of 36 cases who were withdrawn from antiepileptic drugs according to the criteria, along with clinical features of these cases. Analyses were made on factors which had led to a recurrence of seizures in a few cases as well.