Epilepsy treatment with a sustained-release formulation of valproic acid -Experiences with 1172 patients

A special sustained-release formulation of valproic acid* (VPA) was adminis tered to 1172 patients with partial or generalised seizures over a period o f 3 months. On an average the patients had had 1.4 different anticonvulsive drugs previously. The treatment was well tolerated and there was a reducti on in seizure frequency in 57% of the patients; deterioration was observed in only 1%. After stopping the pretreatment (conventional VPA, phenytoin, c arbamazepine) and switching to sustained-release VPA there was a decrease i n seizure frequency in 44%, 72% and 81%, while the compliance and tolerabil ity was increased. Usually no dosage adaptation was required after changing conventional VPA to the sustained-release formulation. In polytherapy ther e was a decrease in seizure frequenzy of 63% (100 patients), in comparison to initial therapy an improvement in even 81% of the patients (108 patients ). There was no difference between partial and generalised seizures. The re sults show that sustained-release VPA is well tolerated, safe and effective in respect of all seizure types, in mono- and polytherapy.