Objectives: To assess the recurrence rate of epilepsy attributable to discontinuation of treatment in seizure free patients and to identify the risk factors for recurrence. Methods: 330 patients referred to an epilepsy centre who were seizure free for at least 2 years while on stable monotherapy were the study population. Discontinuation of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) was proposed to all eligible patients or to their carers after discussion of the risks and benefits. Depending on whether they accepted or refused treatment withdrawal, the patients were stratified into two cohorts and followed up until seizure relapse or 31 March 1999, whichever came first. For each patient, records were taken of the main demographic and clinical variables. Results: The sample comprised 225 patients who entered the discontinuation programme and 105 who decided to continue treatment. Twenty nine patients (28%) continuing treatment had a relapse, compared with 113 (50%) of those entering the withdrawal programme. For patients continuing treatment, the probability of remission was 95% at 6 months, 91% at 12 months, 82% at 24 months, 80% at 36 months, and 68% at 60 months. The corresponding values for patients discontinuing treatment were 88%, 74%, 57%, 51%, and 48%. After adjusting for the principal prognostic factors, in patients discontinuing AEDs the risk of seizure relapse was 2.9 times that of patients continuing treatment. A relation was also found between relapse and duration of active disease, number of years of remission while on treatment, and abnormal psychiatric findings. Conclusions: Seizure free referral patients on stable monotherapy who elect to withdraw drug treatment are at higher risk of seizure relapse compared with patients continuing treatment. Severity of disease and seizure free period are significant prognostic factors. I n patients with epilepsy who are seizure free for a period while on antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), the question arises whether treatment can be withdrawn. The decision to discontinue AEDs is based on the chance of remaining seizure free after drug withdrawal, the presence of factors predictive of a higher risk of seizure recurrence, and the medical and social consequences of the withdrawal compared with continuation of treatment. The risk of seizure relapse after withdrawal of AEDs has been estimated at from 10% to 70% depending on the method and design of the studies. Based on a meta-analysis of the literature, 1 the risk of relapse after drug withdrawal was 25% at 1 year and 29% at 2 years. Several factors have been implicated in the risk of relapse, including age at onset of seizures, 2-7 age at treatment withdrawal, The risk of seizure relapse attributable to drug discontinuation is less well defined. The only study comparing continued antiepileptic treatment and drug withdrawal showed that 78% of patients continuing and 59% of those stopping AEDs remained seizure free two years after randomisation. 11 In that study the patients were enrolled regardless of whether they were taking one or mor...

Convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) is a medical emergency associated with high mortality and morbidity. The most recent definition of CSE is a convulsive seizure lasting more than 5min or consecutive seizures without recovery of consciousness. In adults, for the treatment of the early stages of CSE, diazepam, lorazepam or midazolam are the most common treatments, although the choice of agent seems less important than rapid treatment. Midazolam, when administered intramuscularly (best evidence), buccally, or nasally, is effective and safe in the pre-hospital setting. The antiepileptic drugs, phenytoin, valproate, levetiracetam and, more recently lacosamide, are used in CSE that persists after first-line treatments (established CSE). Phenytoin is more difficult to administer and is less well tolerated. Evidence of the efficacy of lacosamide is scarce. Anaesthetics are the drugs of choice for the treatment of refractory CSE (not responding to second-line drugs). Midazolam seems to be the best tolerated and is the most often used drug, followed by propofol and thiopental (pentobarbital in the USA). A few studies indicate that ketamine is effective with the possible advantage that it can be co-administered with other anaesthetics, such as midazolam or propofol. CSE becomes super-refractory after more than 24h of appropriate treatments and may last weeks. Several anaesthetics have been proposed but evidence is scarce. Autoimmune refractory CSE has been recently identified, and early treatment with immuno-modulatory agents (corticosteroids and IV immunoglobulins and also second-line agents such as cyclophosphamide and rituximab followed by chronic immunosuppressive treatment) is now recommended by many experts.

Summary Objective Although many studies have attempted to describe treatment outcomes in patients with drug‐resistant epilepsy, results are often limited by the adoption of nonhomogeneous criteria and different definitions of seizure freedom. We sought to evaluate treatment outcomes with a newly administered antiepileptic drug (AED) in a large population of adults with drug‐resistant focal epilepsy according to the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) outcome criteria. Methods This is a multicenter, observational, prospective study of 1053 patients with focal epilepsy diagnosed as drug‐resistant by the investigators. Patients were assessed at baseline and 6, 12, and 18 months, for up to a maximum of 34 months after introducing another AED into their treatment regimen. Drug resistance status and treatment outcomes were rated according to ILAE criteria by the investigators and by at least two independent members of an external expert panel (EP). Results A seizure‐free outcome after a newly administered AED according to ILAE criteria ranged from 11.8% after two failed drugs to 2.6% for more than six failures. Significantly fewer patients were rated by the EP as having a “treatment failure” as compared to the judgment of the investigator (46.7% vs 62.9%, P < 0.001), because many more patients were rated as “undetermined outcome” (45.6% vs 27.7%, P < 0.001); 19.3% of the recruited patients were not considered drug‐resistant by the EP. Significance This study validates the use of ILAE treatment outcome criteria in a real‐life setting, providing validated estimates of seizure freedom in patients with drug‐resistant focal epilepsy in relation to the number of previously failed AEDs. Fewer than one in 10 patients achieved seizure freedom on a newly introduced AED over the study period. Pseudo drug resistance could be identified in one of five cases.

A patient-tailored educational strategy is effective in reducing drug-related problems (particularly drug interactions) in epilepsy patients with chronic comorbidities, without adding significant monetary costs. Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT01804322, (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).

CNI is predominantly a transient complication, but is associated significantly with dual antiplatelet therapy use and the occurrence of a postoperative cervical hematoma. Scrupulous attention to hemostasis might reduce the incidence of CNI.