Rufinamide for refractory focal seizures: an open-label, multicenter European study.

Giangennaro Coppola, Nelia Zamponi, Gerhard Kluger, Arndt Mueller, Mazzotta Anna Rita, Pasquale Parisi, Claudia Isone, Elena Santoro, Paolo Curatolo, Alberto Verrotti

Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Medical School, University of Salerno, Italy. gcoppola@unisa.it

Seizure : the journal of the British Epilepsy Association 2013 Jan

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The present study aimed to assess the efficacy and tolerability of rufinamide as adjunctive drug for the treatment of a large series of children, adolescents and adults with refractory cryptogenic or symptomatic focal epilepsy. Patients were recruited in a prospective, add-on, open-label treatment study from six Italian and one German centers for pediatric and adolescent epilepsy care. Inclusion criteria were: (1) age 3 years or more; (2) diagnosis of cryptogenic or symptomatic focal epilepsy refractory to at least three previous antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), alone or in combination; (3) more than one seizure per month in the last 6 months; (4) use of at least one other AED, but no more than three, at baseline; (5) informed consent from parents and/or caregivers. Sixty-eight patients (40 males, 28 females), aged between 3 and 63 years (mean 19.9 years, median 16.0)±SD 12.58, with cryptogenic (28 pts, 41.2%) or symptomatic focal epilepsy (40 pts, 58.8%), were recruited in the study. After a mean follow-up period of 10.4±10.29 months, twenty-two patients (32.3%) had a 50-99% seizure reduction, and none became seizure-free. Twelve patients (17.6%) had a 25-49% seizure decrease, while in 30 (44.1%) seizure frequency was unchanged. A seizure worsening was reported in 5 patients (7.3%). A better response to rufinamide occurred in frontal lobe seizures (51.6%) and secondary generalized tonic-clonic seizures (50%). Rufinamide was effective against focal-onset seizures, particularly in the treatment of secondary generalized frontal lobe seizures. Copyright © 2012 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Citation

Giangennaro Coppola, Nelia Zamponi, Gerhard Kluger, Arndt Mueller, Mazzotta Anna Rita, Pasquale Parisi, Claudia Isone, Elena Santoro, Paolo Curatolo, Alberto Verrotti. Rufinamide for refractory focal seizures: an open-label, multicenter European study. Seizure : the journal of the British Epilepsy Association. 2013 Jan;22(1):33-6