Epidemiological vigilance in epilepsy: first attendance in specialized epilepsy centers

SILVIA KOCHEN; ROBERTO GIOBELLINA; MARIELA CABREROS; ESTELA CENTURION; CARLOS MELCON; JORGE FLORIDIA; MANUEL SOMOZA

Journal of Seizure -Eur J Epilep

Año: 2007

Purpose: The aim was to apply the international guidelines for diagnosis and treatment in order to improve the epilepsy prognosis to the population of Argentina who attend the specialized epilepsy centers (SECs). Methods: We carried out a prospective study. The SECs are located in different regions, represents the distribution demographic of population of our country. Results: Analysis was performed on information received from the SECs between March 2002 and July 2005. The total number of patients was 2639. We observed that a high number of the patients were not receiving first line drugs for the syndrome and were taking polytherapy. The therapeutic changes were performed in most cases. It was an considerable disagreement between the clinical practitioner or neurologists and the epilepsy specialists in relation to choice of AED. The variables that influenced the decision of the specialist for changing the drugs were a high seizure frequency and seizure type. Conclusions: we have presented information of SECs that did not exist before in our country, and which may contribute to decision making. This work has also shown that good human resources enables an optimization of diagnostic resources and treatment, which has high impact in countries with limited resources