News and Features Related to Epilepsy
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Predicting Success Rates for Epilepsy Drugs
May 9, 2012 -- Half of all epilepsy patients who are initially started on one anti-seizure drug remain seizure-free for at least a year, a new study confirms. Among patients followed for as long as 26 years, initial response to drug treatments strongly predicted future seizure control. Yet less than
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Surgery Often an Overlooked Option for Epilepsy
March 6, 2012 -- Brain surgery is generally considered a last resort for some epilepsy patients whose seizures are not controlled with drugs, but performing surgery earlier may prevent years of suffering, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Only a small perce
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Epilepsy 101
More than 2 million people in the United States have some form of epilepsy, a group of related disorders marked by recurrent seizures. WebMD asked epilepsy experts your most frequently asked questions. In most cases -- about seven in 10 people -- the cause of epilepsy is unknown. In other cases, epi
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Surgery Keeps Many Epilepsy Patients Seizure-Free
Oct. 13, 2011 -- About half of surgically treated adults with epilepsy remain seizure-free a decade later, a large follow-up study of epilepsy surgery shows. Researchers followed more than 600 patients for as long as 19 years after seizure-control surgery. They found that 52% were not having seizure
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Precautions Cut Sudden Death Risk of Epilepsy
July 5, 2011 -- People with epilepsy who are otherwise healthy are known to have a risk of unexplained sudden death that is more than 20 times higher than the general population. Doctors call it sudden unexpected death in epilepsy or SUDEP. However, that risk may be reduced by a variety of precautio
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FDA OKs New Epilepsy Drug
June 13, 2011 -- Adults with epilepsy will soon have a new drug to help control seizures as part of their overall epilepsy treatment. The FDA has approved the drug Potiga (ezogabine) as an add-on drug to treat partial seizures caused by epilepsy. Partial seizures affect only a limited area of the br
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Study: Low Birth Defect Risk From Newer Epilepsy Drugs
May 17, 2011 -- Use of newer antiseizure drugs during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with an increased risk for major birth defects in one of the largest studies ever to examine the issue. The finding can be seen as reassuring to women of childbearing age who take the newer epil
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Many Kids With Epilepsy Don’t Take Their Medicine
April 26, 2011 -- More than half of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy do not take their seizure medications as prescribed, a study shows. The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Nearly 60% of pediatric patients followed in the study were mildly, moderately, or
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Treatment-Resistant Epilepsy Linked to Autism
April 19, 2011 -- Epilepsy that is difficult to treat may be more common in those with autism than previously believed, new research suggests. "In general, we knew prior to this study that people with autism have significantly elevated rates of epilepsy," says researcher Orrin Devinsky, MD, professo
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Johnson & Johnson Recalls Topamax Due to Odor
April 14, 2011 -- Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson has issued a voluntary recall of 57,000 bottles of its Topamax epilepsy and migraine drug due to complaints of an “uncharacteristic odor” associated with the tablets. The announcement came from Ortho-McNeil Neurologics, a division of Ortho-McNeil-Janssen
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