VIGABATRIN MONOTHERAPY IN NEWLY-DIAGNOSED PARTIAL EPILEPSY - AN OPEN MULTICENTER ITALIAN PILOT-STUDY

50 patients (18 male) received vigabatrin monotherapy during this stud y, to assess the efficacy and tolerability of first-line vigabatrin tr eatment for partial epilepsy. After 1 year, 70% of patients were seizu re-free, 17% of patients had a reduction in seizure frequency of at le ast 50%, and 10% of patients had a reduction in seizure frequency of l ess than 50%. Only 3% of patients obtained no benefit from the therapy . Drug efficacy did not relate to either baseline seizure frequency or seizure aetiology. Adverse events were usually mild and transitory, a nd the main adverse events were weight gain and drowsiness. Our result s show that vigabatrin may be considered a first-choice drug in newly diagnosed patients with partial epilepsy, owing to its good efficacy a nd tolerabilty. (C) 1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers.