۱- Introduction

۲- P-glycoprotein inhibitors

۳- Gene therapy

۴- Stem cell therapy

۵- Traditional and novel antiepileptic devices

۶- Precision medicine

۷- Advances in the therapy of epileptic encephalopathies in children

References

Abstract

Despite the availability of many antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) (old and newly developed) and, as recently suggested, their optimization in the treatment of patients with uncontrolled seizures, more than 30% of patients with epilepsy continue to experience seizures and have drug-resistant epilepsy; the management of these patients represents a real challenge for epileptologists and researchers. Resective surgery with the best rates of seizure control is not an option for all of them; therefore, research and discovery of new methods of treating resistant epilepsy are of extreme importance. In this article, we will discuss some innovative approaches, such as P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitors, gene therapy, stem cell therapy, traditional and novel antiepileptic devices, precision medicine, as well as therapeutic advances in epileptic encephalopathy in children; these treatment modalities open up new horizons for the treatment of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Introduction

For decades, the epilepsy community has addressed the burden of drug-resistant epilepsy by focusing on the development of new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and advancing epilepsy surgery techniques. These approaches have resulted in some success, but the percentage of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy has not changed substantially. More than 30% of individuals with epilepsy have persistent seizures despite the use of appropriate therapies, i.e., they have drug-resistant epilepsy [1–۳]. Therefore, investigating and discovering new ways and strategies to treat epilepsy is of paramount significance. There are multiple approaches in the pipeline to treat drug-resistant epilepsy. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the interesting and innovative approaches, which are potentially opening new horizons in treating patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. We have to mention that many of these plausible strategies need to be validated and should be tested in large double-blind randomized clinical trials.