Survey of current practices among US epileptologists of antiepileptic drug withdrawal after epilepsy surgery.
Journal Article
In order to identify the current practices of antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal after epilepsy surgery, a survey was administered to 204 adult and pediatric epileptologists. The responses from 58 epileptologists revealed wide variations regarding the time course and extent of AED withdrawal after successful epilepsy surgery. For most of the epileptologists, the likelihood of the surgery being successful is an important factor in determining whether or not AEDs are tapered. Most of the respondents started to taper AEDs more rapidly than suggested by previous reports. The majority of the epileptologists were able to stop all AEDs completely in a substantial number of patients. The most important factors considered when deciding to taper AEDs were the presence of ongoing auras and the occurrence of postoperative seizures prior to seizure remission. In the absence of data from well-designed prospective trials, such survey results can inform practice and, hopefully, aid in the design of future trials.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Swisher, CB; Sinha, SR
Published Date
- February 2013
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 26 / 2
Start / End Page
- 203 - 206
PubMed ID
- 23305782
Pubmed Central ID
- 23305782
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1525-5069
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1525-5050
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.yebeh.2012.11.053
Language
- eng