Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

STUDY PROTOCOL article

Front. Neurol.

Sec. Artificial Intelligence in Neurology

Developing a machine learning model to assist in predicting treatment success in children with drug-resistant epilepsy

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 2IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia
  • 3Universitas Gadjah Mada Fakultas Kedokteran Kesehatan Masyarakat dan Keperawatan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Currently, the successfulness of reducing seizures through the selection of appropriate antiepileptic drugs (AED) in children with drug-resistant epilepsy remains a challenge due to variability characteristic in patients. This study aims to develop and evaluate machine learning models to treatment success in pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. This study will be conducted with an ambispective cohort. A total of 215 subjects will be taken from patients in Cipto Mangunkusumo Referral Hospital and Harapan Kita General Hospital. Supporting examinations will be also performed such as electroencephalography (EEG) and modified HARNESS Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The collected data will be analyzed by machine learning with several algorithms including support vector machine (SVM), decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), gradient boosting (GB), and their performance will be compared to determine the best model. This is the first study to utilize machine learning by integrating clinical data, EEG, MRI, and medication history to predict treatment success in pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy in Indonesia. The developed model is expected to serve as a clinical decision supporting tool for pediatric neurologists to predict seizure control in children with DRE and determine appropriate therapeutic adjustments with more aggressively when uncontrolled seizures are predicted.

Keywords: Children, Drug-resistant epilepsy, antiepileptic drug, machine learning, Preliminary study

Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 11 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Rafli, Ananta, Handryastuti, Mangunatmadja, Mulyadi, Kekalih, Gayatri and Herini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Achmad Rafli, achmad.rafli@gmail.com

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.