[Valproate sustained release in the treatment of epilepsy]

In an observational study under routine clinical setting data after administration of once daily evening dosing of valproate sustained release minitablets were recorded in 359 patients with epilepsy aged between 12 and 86 years. Patients were either newly treated with valproate sustained release minitablets (N = 58) or switched from conventional valproate (N = 124) or from sustained release valproate (N = 138) to the once daily evening dosing. In 39 patients other antiepileptic drugs were replaced. At the end of the 7-week observational period most patients (65.4 %) received a daily dose of 10 to less than 18 mg/kg body weight followed by 17.4 % receiving doses in the therapeutically recommended range of 18 - 24 mg/kg. 8.6 % and 7.4 % of patients received more than 24 mg/kg or less than 10 mg/kg body weight, respectively. As expected, in both groups with valproate pre-treatment the mean morning valproate plasma levels increased by approximately 10 microg/ml after switch to once evening dosing with sustained release minitablets. The mean seizure frequency decreased from 2.1 to 0.5 in the 318 patients with data before the beginning and at the end of the investigation. At the final examination 137 patients (62.3 %) were seizure free, and further 60 patients (27.3 %) experienced a seizure reduction of more than 50 % (responder) of those 220 patients who experienced seizures in the last 7 weeks before the study. The efficacy and tolerability was rated in more than 95 % of the cases by the patient and the investigator as good or very good. The compliance/acceptance of the valproate sustained release minitablets was rated as good or very good in almost all patients. These results confirm the excellent benefit-risk ratio of the valproate sustained release minitablets and underline the importance of a simple compliance-improving dose regimen for effective seizure control.