ALGORITHM ON THE CLINICAL-EVALUATION OF EPILEPSY

Epilepsy is an important public health problem because of its prevalen ce in the community and the economic disadvantage associated with its chronic morbidity. Uncontrolled seizures are potentially life-threaten ing and have adverse psychosocial consequences. Surgery is an effectiv e but underutilized therapy for some patients with medically refractor y seizures. However, this form oi treatment demands precise localizati on of the epileptogenic zone. In recent years there have been major ad vances in the development of various imaging techniques for seizure lo calization. The best combination of diagnostic testing with regard to cost-benefit has been debated. A rational strategy for the deployment of these techniques is discussed.