title: Six months of postmarketing experience with adjunctive lacosamide in patients with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy at a tertiary epilepsy center in Germany.
abstract: We report our 6 months of experience with adjunctive lacosamide in 25 patients with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy. Baseline characteristics of our patients were similar to those of the populations in the three clinical trials that evaluated lacosamide for refractory focal epilepsy. One patient experienced sustained seizure freedom for 5 months; two more patients had nonsustained periods of seizure freedom of 1 and 4 months. A total of eight patients (32%) reported a greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency. Thirteen patients (52%) reported side effects during the titration, mostly dizziness, fatigue, nausea, and gait instability. In five patients (20%), these disappeared during the maintenance phase and/or with dose reduction. Two patients lost more than 10% of their body weight. Otherwise, in terms of efficacy and adverse effects, our data mirror the profile of lacosamide described in the three clinical trials. Substantial weight loss may occur in individual patients.
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany. tim.wehner@gmail.com
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wehner
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Hajo M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Hamer
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hattemer
authors.forename: Ilka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Immisch
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knake
authors.forename: Mareike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.forename: Philipp S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Reif
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Strzelczyk
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rosenow
mesh_terms: D000081:Acetamides / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D000078334:Lacosamide; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011358:Product Surveillance, Postmarketing; D014741:Video Recording / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000081:Acetamides; D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000078334:Lacosamide