Satellite Symposia

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of Perampanel (PER) in children and adolescents with refractory epilepsies in daily clinical practice conditions.\udPatients and methods: This Italian multicenter retrospective observa- tional study was performed in 16 pediatric epilepsy centers. Children and adolescents ≤18 years of age were included. Pilot data from patients with ≥5-months follow-up were analyzed for this report. The following data were collected: age, gender, cognitive impairment, age at onset of epi- lepsy, seizure and epilepsy types, aetiology, monthly seizure frequency, neuroimages and EEG data, number of previous anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs), adverse events and concomitant AEDs. Response was defined as a ≥50% reduction in monthly seizure frequency compared with the baseline.\udResults: 62 patients were included in this study, 53% males with a mean age of 14 years (6–18 years), 76% with intellectual disability. Mean age at epilepsy onset was 3.5 and 10.8 years (range 1–16) of epilepsy duration with at least three seizure per-month (up to several per-day). 63% had symptomatic focal epilepsy. Mean number of AEDs used in the past was 7.08 and mean number of concomitant AEDs was 2.48. Mean PER dose was 7.08 (2–12 mg). After an average of 7- months of follow-up (5–13 months), 48 patients (77%) continued on PER. The response rate was 50%, 16% with ≥75% seizure frequency reduction and 5% becoming completely seizure free. Seizure aggrava- tion was observed in 10%. Adverse events were experienced in 25/62 (40%) and resulted in withdrawal in 14 (17.4%). The most common adverse events were behavior disturbance (irritability and aggression), dizziness and sedation.\udConclusion: PER was found to be a safe and effective treatment when used as adjunctive therapy in pediatric patients with uncontrolled epilepsy