Question submitted during Session III of The Canine Epilepsy Summit:
"If you need to proceed to general anesthesia to stop the initial seizures, what’s the success rate on long term control? That’s a major procedure to present to the owner."
- Answer provided by a Session III Panelist:
The success depends on a lot of factors - is there an underlying cause for the seizures, are they new onset seizures or breakthrough, was there a compliance issue with administration of maintenence antiseizure medications? But I agree that general anesthesia is a major procedure to present to an owner. In my experience, with aggressive use of other antiseizure medications (IV phenobarbital, midazolam or diazepam CRI, IV levetiracetam), general anesthesia is not often required.
