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Purpose: Many patients with glioblastoma suffer from tumor-related seizures. However, there is limited data on the characteristics of tumor-related epilepsy achieving seizure freedom. The aim of this study was to characterize the course of epilepsy in patients with glioblastoma and the factors that influence it., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of glioblastoma patients treated at the University Hospital Erlangen between 01/2006 and 01/2020., Results: In the final cohort of patients with glioblastoma (n = 520), 292 patients (56.2 %) suffered from tumor-related epilepsy (persons with epilepsy, PWE). Levetiracetam was the most commonly used first-line antiseizure medication (n = 245, 83.9 % of PWE). The onset of epilepsy was preoperative in 154/292 patients (52.7 %). 136 PWE (46.6 %) experienced only one single seizure while 27/292 PWE (9.2 %) developed drug-resistant epilepsy. Status epilepticus occurred in 48/292 patients (16.4 %). Early postoperative onset (within 30 days of surgery) of epilepsy and total gross resection (compared with debulking) were independently associated with a lower risk of further seizures. We did not detect dose-dependent pro- or antiseizure effects of radiochemotherapy., Conclusion: Tumor-related epilepsy occurred in more than 50% of our cohort, but drug-resistant epilepsy developed in less than 10% of cases. Epilepsy usually started before tumor surgery., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To gain insight into epilepsy care during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, we analyzed prescription data of a large cohort of persons with epilepsy (PWE) during lockdown in Germany., Methods: Information was obtained from the Disease Analyzer database, which collects anonymous demographic and medical data from practice computer systems of general practitioners (GP) and neurologists (NL) throughout Germany. We retrospectively compared prescription data for anti-seizure medication (ASM) and physicians' notes of "known" and "new" PWE from January 2020 until May 2020 with the corresponding months in the three preceding years 2017-2019. Adherence was estimated by calculating the proportion of patients with follow-up prescriptions within 90 days after initial prescriptions in January or February. We additionally analyzed hospital referrals of PWE. The significance level was set to 0.01 to adjust for multiple comparisons., Results: A total of 52,844 PWE were included. Anti-seizure medication prescriptions for known PWE increased in March 2020 (GP + 36%, NL + 29%; P < 0.01). By contrast, a decrease in prescriptions to known and new PWE was observed in April and significantly in May 2020 ranging from -16% to -29% (P < 0.01). The proportion of PWE receiving follow-up prescriptions was slightly higher in 2020 (73.5%) than in 2017-2019 (70.7%, P = 0.001). General practitioners and NL referred fewer PWE to hospitals in March 2020 (GP: -30%, P < 0.01; NL: -12%), April 2020 (GP: -29%, P < 0.01; NL: -37%), and May 2020 (GP: -24%, P < 0.01; NL: -16%)., Conclusion: Adherence of known PWE to ASM treatment appeared to remain stable during lockdown in Germany. However, this study revealed findings which point to reduced care for newly diagnosed PWE as well as fewer hospital admissions. These elements may warrant consideration during future lockdown situations., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Several publications on the exchangeability of antiepileptic drugs in clinical settings revealed an increased risk for seizure recurrence after changing the manufacturer of anti-seizure drugs (ASD) in adults, possibly due to a decline of adherence. It is unclear whether this holds true in children and adolescents., Methods: Patient data of children and adolescents (<18 years) were collected anonymously from 236 German pediatricians and pediatric neurologists between January 2011 and December 2018 using the IMS® Disease Analyzer database (IQVIA, Frankfurt, Germany). Patients with epilepsy were included if at least 2 prescriptions within 360 days and 1 within 180 days prior to the index date were available. The cohort was separated into a seizure group and seizure-free controls. Both groups were matched 1:1 according to age, gender, insurance status, and treating pediatrician. The risk for seizure recurrence after a manufacturer switch of the same ASD at the last prescription before the index date was analyzed using a multivariate regression model., Results: A total of 678 children and adolescents with epilepsy were included (each group: n = 339; age: 9.6 ± 4.4 years). Comparing both groups, the risk for seizures recurrence was not increased after a manufacturer switch had occurred. Albeit changes during the last prescription before the index date had occurred more often in the seizure-free group, neither change of branded and generic products nor substances reached significance. Only change of ASD strength showed a significantly reduced odds ratio for seizures (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.24-0.65, p < 0.001)., Significance: In contrast to the available evidence in adults, changing the manufacturer did not appear to increase the risk for seizure recurrence in previously seizure-free children and adolescents with epilepsy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Lang JD served on the Speakers’ Bureau of Eisai. Kostev K is an employee of IQVIA, a company that focuses on analyses of pharmacy records and runs the database used in this analysis. This study, however, was not part of any business project. Reindl C, Müller T, Stritzelberger J, and Westermayer V have nothing to declare. Gollwitzer S has served on the Scientific Advisory Board or on the Speakers’ Bureau or received grants from of Desitin, Eisai, and UCB Pharma. Trollmann R has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Novartis, Desitin, PTC Therapeutics, and Biogen. She served on the Speakers’ Bureau of Novartis and PTC Therapeutics and received an unrestricted grant from Pfizer. Hamer HM has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Arvelle, Bial, Desitin, Eisai, facetoface, GW, Novartis, Sandoz, and UCB Pharma. He served on the Speakers’ Bureau of or received unrestricted grants from Amgen, Ad-Tech, Bial, Bracco, Desitin, Eisai, GW, Nihon Kohden, Novartis, Pfizer, and UCB Pharma., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)