[Drug resistant epilepsy in Senegal: therapeutic, clinical and socioeconomic factors]

The aim of our study was to emphasize factors which support pharmaco-resistance in Senegal. For this purpose, 23 patients with partial or generalized epilepsy were studied, after determining the plasmatic concentration of the antiepileptic drugs. The aetiologies were numerous: encephalitis, injuries, neonatal encephalitis. All patients were under traditional treatment before coming to the hospital. So antiepileptic drugs were taken a long time after the beginning of epilepsy later, they were Phenobarbital, Carbamazepine, Phenytoin, and Valproic acid. Only seven patients had sufficient plasmatic level of the antiepileptic drug. The low socio-economic conditions of patients which limit the choice of the most adapted drug in each case, is one of the most important reason of the pharmaco-resistance. Another factor of the pharmaco-resistance is cultural and is linked with the absence of notion of chronic disease necessitating long and regular treatment in senegalese traditional society.