Experience with lacosamide in a series of children with drug-resistant focal epilepsy

Laura M.F.F. Guilhoto, Tobias Loddenkemper, Vasu D. Gooty, Alexander Rotenberg, Masanori Takeoka, Frank H. Duffy, David Coulter, David Urion, Blaise F. Bourgeois, Sanjeev V. Kothare

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

62 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report our pediatric experience with lacosamide, a new antiepileptic drug, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as adjunctive therapy in focal epilepsy in patients more than 17 years old. We retrospectively reviewed charts for lacosamide use and seizure frequency outcome in patients with focal epilepsy (Wilcoxon signed rank test). Sixteen patients (7 boys) were identified (median dose 275 mg daily, 4.7 mg/kg daily; mean age 14.9 years, range 8-21 years). Patients were receiving a median of 2 antiepileptic drugs (interquartile range [IQR] 1.7-3) in addition to having undergone previous epilepsy surgery (n = 3), vagus nerve stimulation (n = 9), and ketogenic diet (n = 3). Causes included structural (encephalomalacia and diffuse encephalitis, 1 each; stroke in 2) and genetic abnormalities (Aarskog and Rett syndromes, 1 each) or cause not known (n = 10). Median seizure frequency at baseline was 57 per month (IQR 7-75), and after a median follow-up of 4 months (range 1-13 months) of receiving lacosamide, it was 12.5 per month (IQR 3-75), (P < 0.01). Six patients (37.5%; 3 seizure free) were classified as having disease that responded to therapy (≥50% reduction seizure frequency) and 10 as having disease that did not respond to therapy (<50% in 3; increase in 1; unchanged in 6). Adverse events (tics, behavioral disturbance, seizure worsening, and depression with suicidal ideation in 1 patient each) prompted lacosamide discontinuation in 4/16 (25%). This retrospective study of 16 children with drug-resistant focal epilepsy demonstrated good response to adjunctive lacosamide therapy (median seizure reduction of 39.6%; 37.5% with ≥50% seizure reduction) without severe adverse events.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)414-419
Number of pages6
JournalPediatric Neurology
Volume44
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2011

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Statistical analysis was completed by Laura Guilhoto, MD, PhD. L.M.F.F.G. is a recipient of a CAPES scholarship (4225-09-0) from the Brazilian government.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Experience with lacosamide in a series of children with drug-resistant focal epilepsy'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this