Maternal Outcome in Epilepsy Complicating Pregnancy

Epilepsy is not a contraindication to pregnancy. Women with epilepsy can be reassured that having epilepsy should not prevent them from having children. However close medical care is essential and a multidisciplinary approach is recommended. It is very important that all women with pregnancies have a preconception evaluation done by a neurologist, when the need to continue AEDs or possibility of reducing AED load could be assessed. This present study was a prospective study undertaken to evaluate the effect of epilepsy on pregnancy regarding the maternal outcome in 75 cases. Out of 75 epileptic women with pregnancy were assessed for a good maternal outcome.77% had epilepsy for more than 10 years.98.7% of patients had generalized tonic clonic seizures and 1.3% had partial seizures.72 % of patients were on monotherapy and 6.7% of patients were on polytherapy.85.3% had term deliveries and 14.7% had preterm deliveries. 66.7% had normal delivery and 28% underwent caesarean sections for various obstetric indication. Effective preconceptional counselling and medical care is essential for the treatment of the pregnant women with epilepsy.