Exit Strategy: Balancing the Risks and Rewards of Antiseizure Medication Withdrawal.

The majority of people with epilepsy achieves long-term seizure-freedom and may consider withdrawal of their anti-seizure medications (ASMs). Withdrawal of ASMs can yield substantial benefits but may be associated with potential risks. This review critically examines the existing literature on ASM withdrawal, emphasizing evidence-based recommendations, where available. Our focus encompasses deprescribing strategies for individuals who have attained seizure freedom through medical treatment, those who have undergone successful epilepsy surgery, and individuals initiated on ASMs following acute symptomatic seizures. We explore state-of-the-art prognostic models in these scenarios that could guide the decision-making process. The review underscores the importance of a collaborative shared-decision approach between patients, caregivers, and physicians. We describe the subjective and objective factors influencing these decisions and illustrate how trade-offs may be effectively managed in practice.

Clinical characteristics and diagnoses of 1213 children referred to a first seizure clinic.

OBJECTIVE: New-onset seizure-like events (SLEs) are common in children, but differentiating between epilepsy and its mimics is challenging. This study provides an overview of the clinical characteristics, diagnoses, and corresponding etiologies of children evaluated at a first seizure clinic (FSC), which will be helpful for all physicians involved in the care of children with SLEs. METHODS: We included 1213 children who were referred to the FSC of a Dutch tertiary children's hospital over a 13-year period and described their clinical characteristics, first routine EEG recording results, and the distribution and specification of their eventual epilepsy and non-epilepsy diagnoses. The time interval to correct diagnosis and the diagnostic accuracy of the FSC were evaluated. RESULTS: "Epilepsy" was eventually diagnosed in 407 children (33.5%), "no epilepsy" in 737 (60.8%), and the diagnosis remained "unclear" in 69 (5.7%). Epileptiform abnormalities were seen in 60.9% of the EEG recordings in the "epilepsy" group, and in 5.7% and 11.6% of the "no epilepsy" and "unclear" group, respectively. Of all children with final "epilepsy" and "no epilepsy" diagnoses, 68.6% already received their diagnosis at FSC consultation, and 2.9% of the children were initially misdiagnosed. The mean time to final diagnosis was 2.0 months, and 91.3% of all children received their final diagnosis within 12 months after the FSC consultation. SIGNIFICANCE: We describe the largest pediatric FSC cohort to date, which can serve as a clinical frame of reference. The experience and expertise built at FSCs will improve and accelerate diagnosis in children with SLEs. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: Many children experience events that resemble but not necessarily are seizures. Distinguishing between seizures and seizure mimics is important but challenging. Specialized first-seizure clinics can help with this. Here, we report data from 1213 children who were referred to the first seizure clinic of a Dutch children's hospital. One-third of them were diagnosed with epilepsy. In 68.8% of all children-with and without epilepsy-the diagnosis was made during the first consultation. Less than 3% were misdiagnosed. This study may help physicians in what to expect regarding the diagnoses in children who present with events that resemble seizures.

Seizure Outcome After Intraoperative Electrocorticography-Tailored Epilepsy Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tailoring epilepsy surgery using intraoperative electrocorticography (ioECoG) has been debated, and modest number of epilepsy surgery centers apply this diagnostic method. We assessed the current evidence to use ioECoG-tailored epilepsy surgery for improving postsurgical outcome. METHODS: PubMed and Embase were searched for original studies reporting on ≥10 cases who underwent ioECoG-tailored surgery for epilepsy, with a follow-up of at least 6 months. We used a random-effects model to calculate the overall rate of patients achieving favorable seizure outcome (FSO), defined as Engel class I, ILAE class 1, or seizure-free status. Meta-regression was used to investigate potential sources of heterogeneity. We calculated the odds ratio (OR) for estimating variables on FSO:ioECoG vs non-ioECoG-tailored surgery (if included studies contained patients with non-ioECoG-tailored surgery), ioECoG-tailored epilepsy surgery in children vs adults, temporal (TL) vs extratemporal lobe (eTL), MRI-positive vs MRI-negative, and complete vs incomplete resection of tissue that generated interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted for underlying pathologies. We assessed the evidence certainty using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). RESULTS: Eighty-three studies (82 observational studies, 1 trial) comprising 3,631 patients with ioECoG-tailored surgery were included. The overall pooled rate of patients who attained FSO after ioECoG-tailored surgery was 74% (95% CI 71-77) with significant heterogeneity, which was predominantly attributed to pathologies and seizure outcome classifications. Twenty-two studies contained non-ioECoG-tailored surgeries. IoECoG-tailored surgeries reached a higher rate of FSO than non-ioECoG-tailored surgeries (OR 2.10 [95% CI 1.37-3.24]; p < 0.01; very low certainty). Complete resection of tissue that displayed IEDs in ioECoG predicted FSO better compared with incomplete resection (OR 3.04 [1.76-5.25]; p < 0.01; low certainty). We found insignificant difference in FSO after ioECoG-tailored surgery in children vs adults, TL vs eTL, or MRI-positive vs MRI-negative. The network meta-analysis showed that the odds of FSO was lower for malformations of cortical development than for tumors (OR 0.47 95% credible interval 0.25-0.87). DISCUSSION: Although limited by low-quality evidence, our meta-analysis shows a relatively good surgical outcome (74% FSO) after epilepsy surgery with ioECoG, especially in tumors, with better outcome for ioECoG-tailored surgeries in studies describing both and better outcome after complete removal of IED areas.