Among 298 children who were diagnosed with a brain tumour at least 2 years earlier and were followed for an average of 7.6 years, 24% of patients experienced seizures at the start of the study and 14% continued to experience them on an ongoing basis.

Certain factors such as the type of tumour, its location, and the extent of surgery predispose patients to ongoing seizures.

“This information will allow clinicians to understand better who needs to stay on anti seizure medications and who might be able to come off sooner. As some patients will require chemotherapy after surgery and some anti seizure medications can interact with chemotherapy, this will be crucial to management,” said Dr. Nicole Ullrich, lead author of the Epilepsia study.

Source: Epilepsia