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The prognostic value of the electroencephalogram in antiepileptic drug withdrawal in partial epilepsies

From the Department of Neurology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Received September 7, 1995. Accepted in final form December 28, 1995.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Paolo Tinuper, Department of Neurology, via Foscolo 7, I-40123 Bologna, Italy.

We evaluated the prognostic value of the EEG in 120 seizure-free epileptic patients (49 with complex partial seizures with or without episodic secondarily generalization [CPS], 20 with simple partial seizures with or without episodic secondarily generalization [SPS], 51 with only secondarily generalized seizures [PSG]) during and after antiepileptic drug withdrawal. All patients had EEG examination before; during; and 3, 12, 24, and 36 months after drug withdrawal. Relapse rates were 45% in CPS, 100% in SPS, and 65% in PSG. Before reduction, 36 patients had epileptiform EEG and 69% relapsed; in the group with normal EEG, 60% relapsed. EEG worsened in 36 patients, 83% relapsed, whereas only 54% of patients with unchanged EEG relapsed. EEG during but not at the start of drug withdrawal has a prognostic value in partial epilepsy.

NEUROLOGY 1996;47: 76-78

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