[Alzemon: a prospective follow-up study of eslicarbazepine acetate monotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy].

Introduction: Eslicarbazepine acetate is a novel sodium channel blocker for use in the treatment of focal onset seizures. Prospective studies on its effectiveness in monotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed partial epilepsy in routine clinical practice are scarce.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of eslicarbazepine as initial monotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed partial epilepsy in routine clinical practice.

Patients And Methods: A prospective, multicentre, post-authorisation study. Patients with newly diagnosed partial epilepsy aged 18 years or older without previous treatment were included. The efficacy variables were: percentage of seizure-free patients, responders and reduction in monthly frequency of seizures. The safety variables analyse the 12-month retention rate and the occurrence of adverse effects.

Results: Fifty-three patients were included. The retention rate was 77.4%. At the end of the observation period, 83% of patients were seizure-free and 92.5% had reduced their baseline frequency by 50% or more. In addition, 68% of the patients reported some adverse effect and 7.5% of them dropped out of the study for this reason. The effectiveness analysis of the subgroup of patients aged 65 years or more showed no differences with respect to the overall population.

Conclusion: Eslicarbazepine monotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed partial epilepsy, both in the general population and in the population over 65 years old, is effective and safe in routine clinical practice.