Ambulatory management of children with epilepsy.
Pediatricians can satisfactorily manage epilepsy in children if the diagnosis is confident and if continuity of care and compliance are obtained. The health hazards of epilepsy are overstated, and good outcomes can be expected for most children. If the child has definite motor seizures with an obvious neurologic handicap, parents should be given the option of AED treatment. This type of patient is more likely to develop chronic, refractory epilepsy. If the child is neurologically normal or the diagnosis is uncertain, it is better not to begin therapy after the initial seizure. Simple precautions can reduce the likelihood of injury from seizures, regardless of whether an AED is prescribed. The child and the family are the focus of treatment, not the seizures. There is much more to treating diabetes than prescribing insulin, and much more to the management of epilepsy than prescribing AEDs.
Snodgrass
S R
SR
Division of Pediatric Neurology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson 39216, USA.
D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010372:Pediatrics; D011320:Primary Health Care
D000927:Anticonvulsants