Predicting Success Rates for Epilepsy Drugs

50% of Patients Seizure-Free After Trying First Anti-Seizure Drug

By Salynn Boyles WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

May 9, 2012 -- Half of all epilepsy patients who are initially started on one anti-seizure drug remain seizure-free for at least a year, a new study confirms.

Among patients followed for as long as 26 years, initial response to drug treatments strongly predicted future seizure control.

Yet less than 1% of patients who failed to respond to three anti-seizure drug regimens achieved adequate seizure control on subsequent drug treatments even though some were treated with as many as nine different drugs or drug combinations.

The findings make it clear that epilepsy patients who are candidates for surgery or other non-drug treatments should be considered for these procedures earlier rather than later, says neurologist Patricia E. Penovich, MD, of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Epilepsy Group in St. Paul.

"These patients don't have to wait until they have failed five or six different drug regimens," she tells WebMD. "If their seizures are not controlled by the first few medications it is reasonable to consider surgery."

Roughly 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy, and about 1 in 10 people will experience a seizure at some point in their lifetime, according to the Epilepsy Foundation.

More than a dozen different drugs can be used to control seizures, and decisions about which medication to try first are made by considering individual patient characteristics, including age, sex, seizure type, and financial circumstance.

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Predicting Success Rates for Epilepsy Drugs