[Clinical guidelines for epilepsy].

Many international guidelines for epilepsy from the countries in Europe, USA and Asia have been published since the introduction of evidence-based medicine. In Japan, the clinical guidelines for epilepsy management were published by the Japanese Society of Neurology (JSN) in 2002 and 2010. The clinical guideline for epilepsy 2010 primarily targets general practitioners treating epilepsy patients. The Japan Epilepsy Society has been publishing 16 guidelines for several topics since 2005. The clinical guideline for epilepsy 2010 recommends that carbamazepine can be regarded for new onset partial epilepsy and sodium valproate is for new onset generalized epilepsy as anti-epileptic drug (AED) monotherapy. The new AEDs received approval by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan, mainly in the add-on treatment of adults with partial epilepsy. The clinical guideline for epilepsy 2010 will contribute to improvement in the management of epilepsy in Japan.