THE COST OF SEVERE REFRACTORY EPILEPSY - COMPARISON OF PATIENT RESPONSE TO ADJUNCT VIGABATRIN

Data from 112 patients with severe, refractory, partial epilepsy, who were treated with adjunct vigabatrin, were used to compare the cost-of -care for patients who responded to the therapy and those who did not. For patients who responded to vigabatrin, the direct and indirect cos ts were lower than the costs For patients who did not respond to treat ment. The major impact on direct costs was a 69% and 59% decrease in r ate of hospitalization and length of stay in hospital, respectively, f or the responder group. This decrease in costs outweighed the addition al drug costs associated with continued vigabatrin therapy.