Prophylactic anticonvulsants in patients (pts) with primary brain tumor (PBT): Have we really agreed to a consensus?

Abstract

2060 Background: Routine prophylactic antiepileptic drugs (AED) use to prevent seizures in PBT seizure-naïve pts is not supported by current guidelines. However, the best management of prophylactic AED started in the perioperative setting is still unclear. Additionally, AED can have serious side effects, might have a negative impact on cognition and may present significant drug interactions. Little is known about actual current practice patterns regarding prophylactic AED in PBT. In this report we investigated prophylactic AED use in a tertiary care institution. Methods: We reviewed medical files of 260 consecutive patients, registered in our center between 2008 and 2012, focusing on prophylactic AED use. Collected data included: patient demographics, starting date, AED type, and indication. A descriptive analysis was performed with SPSS IBM version 20.0. Results: Median age was 44.5 years (11 - 83). Most pts had an ECOG PS ≤ 1 (76.4%). Overall, AED were used by 218 pts. Most common agents were: phenytoin (68.8%), carbamazepine (27.1%) and phenobarbital (16.1%). Among 141 seizure-naïve pts, 99 (70.2%) received AED as primary prophylaxis (PP). Only 14 pts (14.1%) had the drug eventually discontinued, in a median time of 5.9 months (1.1 – 76.8m). AED were used as PP in 60% of pts with low-grade gliomas, 73.3% with anaplastic gliomas and 93.9% with glioblastomas. Twenty-seven pts (27.3%) on PP presented seizures, generally associated with tumor progression. For most of them a new anticonvulsant was added for seizure control. Of the 42 seizure-naïve pts who did not receive prophylactic AED, only two presented seizures during or within the first week post-radiotherapy. Conclusions: In our study population, prophylactic AED use in PBT was extremely high (70.2% of seizure-naive pts). Postoperatively, AED were discontinued in a small minority of pts, and even so, only after a prolonged period of time. Very few seizures occurred in pts not receiving prophylactic AED. Our results suggest that practice patterns regarding prophylactic AED in PBT still contradict established guidelines.