ABSTRACT
Partial seizures may prove difficult to control in some patients, particularly when they are associated with a mixed seizure pattern with secondary generalized attacks, mental retardation, psychiatric illness, and behavior disturbances. This chapter outlines guidelines for prescribing monotherapy or polypharmacy. It discusses prognosis for partial seizures together with the policy for the eventual withdrawal of antiepileptic medications in patients who achieve freedom from seizures. The drugs that are available for the treatment of partial seizures may now be classified as first-line drugs and second-line drugs. The benign focal epilepsies of childhood with centro-temporal spikes have an excellent prognosis and a good response to treatment. Clobazam has been shown to have anticonvulsant activity and is found to be of benefit as adjunctive treatment in drug resistant epilepsy in both open and double-blind studies. The effect of clobazam as adjunctive treatment in patients with intractable seizures, both generalized and partial, was investigated in an open prospective study.
