Medical Treatments for Epilepsy

In this video, Cesar C. Santos, MD, chief of the pediatric neurology division at Georgetown University Medical Center, discusses the medical treatments available for epilepsy. He explains that the first step is determining what type of epilepsy a patient has, which helps dictate what type of antiepileptic drug (AED) to prescribe. Almost half of patients become seizure free with their first AED, and almost two-thirds become seizure free after a few other AEDs are tried. When 2 or more AEDs have failed, treatment options include surgery and the specialized, high-fat ketogenic diet.