Pregabalin in patients with primary brain tumors and seizures: A preliminary observation

Objectives: Patients with brain tumors and seizures should be treated with non-enzyme-inducing antiepileptic drugs (AED). Some of the newer drugs seem particularly suited in these patients. Methods: Here we describe our experience with pregabalin (PGB); its effectiveness was retrospectively studied in nine consecutive patients with primary brain tumors and seizures. Results: Six subjects had secondarily generalized and three simple partial seizures. Patients mostly suffered from WHO grade IV gliomas. PGB replaced enzyme inducing, inefficacious or bad tolerated AED, as add-on or monotherapy. Median follow-up was 5 (2-19) months; three patients died of their tumor. Daily median dosage was 300 mg. All subjects experienced at least a 50% seizure reduction, six were seizure-free. Side effects were reported in four patients, leading to PGB discontinuation in two. Conclusion: PGB appears to have a promising effectiveness in this setting, even as a monotherapy. Based on these results we embarked on a prospective controlled trial. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.