Efficacy of Lacosamide Therapy in Focal Onset Refractory Epilepsy of Childhood: A Single Center Experience

Objective: Treatment of childhood refractory epilepsy is a challenge for clinicians. Lacosamide is a new generation antiepileptic drug which is being used for focal onset seizures of adults and children. Efficacy and safety of the drug for adults have been demonstrated in various studies. The aim of this retrospective cross-sectional study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of lacosamide in childhood refractory focal seizures in our clinic. Methods: We examined the medical records of 14 patients treated with lacosamide in our clinic between January 2016 and January 2020 in terms of demographic, etiological, neuroimaging findings, responses to treatment, adverse effects and drug-drug interactions. We evaluated the patients as responders to treatment whose seizure frequency decreased ≥%50 after 6 months of lacosamide treatment. Results: In 12 patiens (%85.7) seizure frequency decreased ≥%50 (p<0.001) while 5 of them (%35.7) was seizure free. Despite to the long term treatment one patient did not response to lacosamide treatment, and 1 patient’s treatment stopped due to aggravation of seizure after initiation of lacosamide treatment. Clinical adverse effects were observed in 3 (%21.4) patients. Cardiac adverse effects or drug-drug interactions were not observed in any patient. Conclusion: As a result of our study, we think that lacosamide is an effective and reliable treatment option for refractory focal seizures of childhood similar to the results of the studies cited in the literature. We also think that further investigations are needed to evaluate its efficacy in focal and different type of seizures of childhood.