Pregabalin as add-on therapy for refractory partial seizures in every day clinical practice.
We retrospectively reviewed our clinical experience with PGB when used as add-on therapy in 101 patients (56 women and 45 men) with refractory partial epilepsy, who have been followed up for at least 1 year. Mean age was 40 years (16-64); mean number of concomitant AEDs was 2.8. Most patients (43) had temporal lobe epilepsy. Median number of seizures per month was 16 (3-240). Mean PGB dose used was 412.5 mg. Responder rate (percentage of patients with >or=50% seizure reduction) at 6 and 12 months was 52% and 39.6%, respectively. Seizure freedom for at least 6 and 12 months has been achieved by 12 patients (11.8%) and 6 patients (5.9%) respectively. At 1 year, 61 patients (60.4%) are still taking PGB. Forty patients have discontinued PGB, because of inefficacy (16 patients, 15.8%), adverse effects (15 patients, 14.8%) or both (9 patients, 8.9%). Sixty per cent of patients reported adverse events, being weight gain (>10% body weight) the most frequent, seen in 26 patients (25.7%). Dizziness/ataxia was seen in 20 (19.8%). Adverse effects were generally mild to moderate.
Carreño
Mar
M
Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital Clínic, c/Villarroel 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain. mcarreno@clinic.ub.es
Maestro
Iratxe
I
Molins
Albert
A
Donaire
Antonio
A
Falip
Merce
M
Becerra
Juan Luis
JL
Castillo
Joaquín
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000069583:Pregabalin; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use
D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000069583:Pregabalin; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid