title: [Suspension of antiepilepsy therapy in subjects with epilepsy starting in early childhood].
abstract: After a complete review of the literature the AA. found that the results of the researches about the withdrawal of anticonvulsant therapy in epileptics were discordant. In order to investigate predicting criteria in terms of relapses, four hundred and fifty-seven epileptic children were followed up for a least three years (mean = 4,7 years) after drug withdrawal to determine the frequency of relapses and to discern any prognostic criteria. Each child had at least three separate a febrile seizures before the age of fifteen. Both primary and secondary forms have been considered. Clinical records were analyzed retrospectively to determine which factors were associated with recurrent seizures. The factors evaluated were: 1) types of seizures, 2) age of onset of seizures, 3) kind of therapy, 4) severity of seizure disorder, 5) age of the last seizure, 6) duration of therapy, 7) seizure-free period before drug withdrawal, 8) age of interruption of anticonvulsive therapy, 9) kind of discontinuation and 10) electroencephalography patterns. Statistically significant relationship was found between the type of seizure and the risk of relapse. Relapse rates were lowest in petit-mal epilepsy (2,6%) and in grandmal attacks (13,2%). The highest rate was in children with organic forms (26,2%) and with multiple seizure types (37,5%). A striking relationship was observed between increased risk of recurrence and a short seizure-free period before drug withdrawal and a short duration of therapy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004832:Epilepsy, Absence / Q000188:drug therapy; D004830:Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants
vernacular_title: Sospensione della terapia antiepilettica in soggetti con epilessia insorta nell'età infantile.