prognostic factors in predicting the failure of childhood epilepsy treatment; serum drug levels and patient characteristics

objective epilepsy is a known condition in both children and adults but less evidence is available about the refractory epilepsy, the causes of treatment failure and the strategies to confront it. we intend to find the prognostic factors to detect the patients who will fail the treatment, in the early stages of the disease. materials & methods after defining the criteria for exclusion and exclusion, the patients were divided into two groups based on responding to the medical treatment for their epilepsy and indices were recorded for all the patients to be used in the statistical analyses.   results data analysis based on multivariate analysis expresses concomitant neurological disorders, brain imaging abnormalities, type of seizure and serum drug level as the most valuable predictors of resistant seizure in children. conclusion still there are conflicting data in different studies about some of the factors to be or not to be introduced as prognostic factors. but by the solid body of evidence and analyses done with the current design of study it can be suggested that serum drug levels and some patient characteristics are able to help clinicians to predict the response to the treatment by the individuals with childhood epilepsy. significance it is important not only for the patient and his family but also for the health care system to evaluate the disease and to predict its condition in the near future in terms of responding well to the medical therapy to take necessary measures facing the problem of treatment failure.