[Neonatal refractory seizures]

Convulsions appearing in the neonatal or first year of life can have a very different origin, treatment or prognosis and it shall be up to the neonatologist or neuropediatrician to resolve the problem since they are the ones who know their patients best. There are severe forms of epileptic encephalopathy in the neonatal period such as Ohtahara syndrome or Aicardi myoclonic encephalopathy with poor prognosis and high morbimortality. Furthermore, there are forms of convulsions and epilepsies during the neonatal and infant period which do not respond to AED. In such cases, it is important to initiate as soon as possible another type of treatment to prevent a neurological deterioration due to repeated convulsion crises and thus allow the patients to lead a normal life with the only obligation to take a different medication from AED during their whole life. We discuss the metabolic defects which lead to convulsions and epilepsies and their various treatments. We also include a revision of some forms of convulsions and epilepsies in the infant insisting on treatments with substances completely different from AEDs.