Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Why some dogs with epilepsy seem resistant to medication
By Filip Kajin et al.·Published in Animals·2023·Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, University of Veterinary Medicine, 30559 Hannover, Germany, CH·View original on DOAJ →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: “Resistance Is Futile”: A Pilot Study into Pseudoresistance in Canine Epilepsy
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with epilepsy that seemed resistant to treatment was studied to find out why some weren't responding to their medications. Out of 152 dogs, 27% were found to have "pseudoresistance," meaning their lack of response was due to issues like low medication levels or incorrect dosages rather than true resistance to the drugs. Most of these dogs improved when their treatment plans were adjusted. This shows that if your dog isn't responding to epilepsy medication, it might be worth discussing a reevaluation of their treatment with your vet.
People also search for: dog epilepsy treatment · why is my dog having seizures · medication-resistant epilepsy in dogs · adjusting dog seizure medication
Abstract
Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder in veterinary practice, complicated by frequent occurrence of medication-resistant epilepsy. In human medicine, it has been noted that some patients with medication-resistant epilepsy have in fact other reasons for their apparent medication-resistance. The aim of this retrospective study was to describe the issue of pseudoresistance using as an example a population of dogs presented with presumed medication-resistant epilepsy and provide an in-depth review of what is known in human medicine about pseudoresistant epilepsy. One-hundred fifty-two cases were identified with medication-resistant epilepsy, of which 73% had true medication-resistant epilepsy and 27% patients had pseudoresistance. Low serum anti-seizure medication levels were the most common cause of pseudoresistance, present in almost half of the cases (42%), followed by inadequate choice of drugs or dosages (22%), misclassification (22%) or misdiagnosis (9%) of epilepsy and poor compliance (9%). All cases of pseudoresistance, except for one, responded to a modification of the initial therapy protocol. Pseudoresistance can bias clinical trials, misinform the clinical decision-making process, delay diagnosis and treatment, and misinform owners about their pets’ prognosis. A substantial proportion of these cases can have improvement of their seizure frequency or achieve seizure freedom upon modification of their therapeutic protocol.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on DOAJ: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13193125