New Trends and Most Promising Therapeutic Strategies for Epilepsy Treatment

Background: Despite the wide availability of novel anti-seizure medications (ASMs), 30% of patients with epilepsy retain persistent seizures with a significant burden in comorbidity and an increased risk of premature death. This review aims to discuss the therapeutic strategies, both pharmacological and non-, which are currently in the pipeline.Methods: PubMed, Scopus, and EMBASE databases were screened for experimental and clinical studies, meta-analysis, and structured reviews published between January 2018 and September 2021. The terms epilepsy, treatment or therapy, and novel were used to filter the results.Conclusions: The common feature linking all the novel therapeutic approaches is the spasmodic rush toward precision medicine, aiming at holistically evaluating patients, and treating them accordingly as a whole. Toward this goal, different forms of intervention may be embraced, starting from the choice of the most suitable drug according to the type of epilepsy of an individual or expected adverse effects, to the outstanding field of gene therapy. Moreover, innovative insights come from in-vitro and in-vivo studies on the role of inflammation and stem cells in the brain. Further studies on both efficacy and safety are needed, with the challenge to mature evidence into reliable assets, ameliorating the symptoms of patients, and answering the challenges of this disease.

Automated summary

Despite the widespread availability of novel anti-seizure medications, a significant portion of epilepsy patients still experience persistent seizures, indicating the need for more precise treatment strategies. Approaches towards precision medicine, including personalized drug selection and innovative interventions like gene therapy, are at the forefront of research efforts to better address the challenges of epilepsy. Further studies are required to validate the efficacy and safety of these novel therapeutic approaches in improving patient outcomes.