The Treatable Epilepsies

Abstract

IN the past 10 years advances in genetic epidemiology,¹ an improved classification of epileptic seizures,² and the emergence of new antiepileptic drugs³ have focused attention on the treatable epilepsies. These epilepsies are called treatable because of their excellent response to antiepileptic drugs, because of their continued high remission rates even after withdrawal of antiepileptic drugs, and because they afflict people who are otherwise normal.Almost all forms of seizure disorders should be treated with an antiepileptic drug, but the goal of physicians should also be to identify the phenotypic variations of the treatable epilepsies. They should be differentiated from epilepsies . . .