Epilepsy is one of the oldest known diseases. The word epilepsia has 2 500 years and comes from the Greek epilamvanein, which means ‘attack’, ‘grab’, ‘possess’. Seizures were treated as an expression possessed by demons, evil spirits and therefore for a long time it was considered as “sacred disease”. Epilepsy is not a disease in the classic sense, but rather a complex pathophysiological process, the numerous and complex symptoms are the result of various disorders of brain function. Epilepsy is one of the most difficult problems neuroepidemiology. Seizures are an expression of pathological brain activity in different areas of the course of many disease processes. Source discharges in the clinical pathological form of epileptic seizure can be traumatic scars, compression changes, inflammatory, degenerative, vascular fire or developmental disorders. Focal epileptic tissue is modified zone lying between the damage and the area healthy. This is a group of neurons that generates periodic paroxysmal bioelectrical activity in the form of paroxysmal discharge depolarization generating clinical seizures. Most epilepsies are primary brain disorder, but there are also many processes outbrain disturbing systemic homeostasis. In the treatmentof epilepsy, there is no one standard way to proceed. The aim of epilepsy treatment is complete seizure control and getting the least side effects during treatment with antiepileptic drugs. Knowledge and experience are the most important practitioners of the factors contributing to the care of patients with epilepsy. The drug should be tailored to the type of seizure or epilepsy syndrome, the frequency and severity of seizures. The emergence of a new generation of drugs gave them some advantage over older-generation drugs. They are characterized by greater specificity of action, improved pharmacokinetic properties, better evaluation of clinical trials and less side effects. These drugs are in clinical trials, and direct observation of lessons can be drawn that they are very useful in some types of epilepsy. There is no doubt that further research and observation.

epilepsy, pharmacokinetic drug interactions, treatment of epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs, drug-resistant epilepsy, absorption, drug distribution, cytochrome P450