POSTOPERATIVE MEDICAL-MANAGEMENT FOLLOWING PEDIATRIC EPILEPSY

Medical management of the post-epilepsy surgery patient depends on car eful preoperative consideration of the patient's medical, social, cogn itive, and emotional status. Outcome expectations should be realistic. Families should be warned that existing cognitive and psychobehaviora l problems may not be improved following surgery, even if seizures are well controlled. In the postoperative period, maintenance of therapeu tic antiepileptic drug levels is important. Certain specific post-surg ical neurologic syndromes may occur. As criteria for surgery and surgi cal techniques continue to evolve, epilepsy centers have an ongoing re sponsibility to provide objective assessment of outcome. Prospective m ulticenter studies are required to adequately address these issues.