Objective
To evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of lacosamide added to one or two antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in the treatment of patients with brain tumor–related epilepsy (BTRE), and to evaluate patients’ global impression of change and quality of life (QoL).
Results
Patients were recruited from 24 sites in Europe. Ninety-three patients received lacosamide, of whom 79 (84.9%) completed the study. At 6 months, 66 of 86 (76.7%) patients were 50% responders and 30 of 86 (34.9%) were seizure?free. Improvements were reported by 49 of 76 (64.5%) patients, according to a validated patient self-assessment. Improvements were observed in 52 of 81 (64.2%) patients, according to a clinician’s evaluation. Quality of Life and symptom outcome measures remained stable. The 6-month retention rate was 86.0% (N = 93). Fifteen (16.1%) patients reported adverse drug reactions, which were severe enough for four patients (4.3%) that they had to drop out of the study.
Significance
Results of this prospective, noninterventional study suggest that add-on lacosamide is effective and generally well tolerated in patients with brain-tumor related epilepsy.