Q: My 4 years old son got partial seizures three months back, which lasted for 2 minutes. His EEG report was normal but MRI revealed diffuse signal in bilateral hippocampi with bulky appearance with no obvious atrophic changes associated with nodular foci seen along bilateral lateral ventricular margins. Findings suggest a likely bilateral mesial temporal sclerosis with nodular heterotopias. He was put on Eptoin 75 mg/day. He again suffered seizures last month, almost after two and a half months after the first seizure. Prior to that, he suffered febrile seizures when he was 10 months old. Incidentally, all three seizures took place around 11 in the night when the he was sleeping. Our doctor indicated that the child suffered second seizure because of low dosage of medicine and has now prescribed Eptoin 100 mg/day. When will my son be cured of seizures?

A:Mesial temporal sclerosis is a common cause for Complex Partial Seizures, often surgically correctable, provided it is on one side. The presence of nodular heterotopias, however, makes the problem complex. Kindly check and see if your child has small brown or white patches on his trunk, arms and axilla. I would suggest that carbamazepine (CBZ) would be a better choice of medication than Eptoin in children. Do not miss the medications, and ensure proper sleep. It would be worthwhile to avoid certain medications like Erythromycin and Quinolones ( both are antibiotics) when your child is taking CBZ. He should be fit free for 2 years, before attempting to taper medications. Please go for periodic checkups to your neurologist. It is too early to forecast a complete remission in your child in view of the MRI findings.