Many childhood brain tumor survivors experience seizures

New research reveals that seizures are frequent in childhood brain tumor survivors.

Among 298 children who were diagnosed with a brain tumor 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 tumor, 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 antiseizure medications and who might be able to come off sooner. As some patients will require chemotherapy after surgery and some antiseizure medications can interact with chemotherapy, this will be crucial to management," said Dr. Nicole Ullrich, lead author of the Epilepsia study.