Anesthesia Management in Epileptic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Introduction: The importance of anesthesia management in epileptic patients lies in its direct impact on perioperative safety and neurologic outcomes. Inadequate anesthetic planning can precipitate breakthrough seizures, complicate recovery, and increase morbidity. Material and methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis, conducted according to PRISMA guidelines, will evaluate randomized controlled trials and observational studies on anesthetic management in epileptic patients. Comprehensive database searches and standardized selection and extraction processes will be used. Outcomes include perioperative seizures and anesthetic complications. Study quality and heterogeneity will be rigorously assessed using validated tools and statistical analyses, ensuring reliable synthesis of current evidence to inform clinical anesthesia practices in this population. Results: Based on the defined search strategy, 246 records were identified and narrowed through duplicate removal and rigorous screening to 8 studies included in the final qualitative synthesis. These studies, conducted internationally between 2014 and 2021, used varied designs and sample sizes to address perioperative seizure outcomes, anesthetic complications, recovery time, and hemodynamic stability, providing comprehensive and detailed evidence on anesthesia management in epileptic patients. Conclusion: This systematic review demonstrates that, with careful selection of anesthetic protocols and individualized perioperative management, patients with epilepsy can undergo surgery with manageable rates of seizures and complications.