Common Errors in Diagnosis and Treatment of Pediatric Epilepsy

Abstract

Background: epilepsy affects people in all nations and of all races. Its incidence is greater in African American and socially disadvantaged populations. Epilepsy is the most commonly encountered neurologic conditions in children. Aim of the Work: learning from one's mistakes is the best learning tool in medicine and this applies as well to epilepsy, so the aim of our work is to review some of the most frequently identified mistakes and errors in the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric epilepsy and how to avoid their occurrence. Patients and Methods: the study included fifty children with epilepsy and condition mimic epilepsy, aged less than fifteen years (35 males and 15 females). The children participating in the present study were selected randomly from patients attending the pediatric neurology outpatient clinic of Al-Azhar University Hospital. The present work was conducted from January 2018 till the end of September 2018. Results: in the present study it was found that 70 % of the studied patients are males and 30 % females. 76% of our patients were coming from rural areas, and only 24% living in urban. In this study we found that 34 % of our patients are wrongly diagnosed as Epilepsy. The study showed that 27% of epileptic cases are not controlled mostly due to improper selection of drug in 55.6 % and 44.4 % due to improper dose. Conclusion: In fact, in patients with epilepsy, a detailed history is likely to lead to an accurate diagnosis in up to 90% of patients