Extending the use of stiripentol to SLC13A5-related epileptic encephalopathy

SLC13A5-related epileptic encephalopathy is a recently described autosomal recessive disorder that is characterized by infantile epilepsy and developmental delay. Seizures are markedly drug resistant and often induced by fever; they mainly occur in clusters, sometimes evolving into status epilepticus.

We report the use of stiripentol as an adjunctive therapy in three siblings with drug-resistant SLC13A5-related epilepsy. The three patients showed remarkable improvement in the severity and frequency of seizures, status epilepticus, emergency department visits, and alertness.

These observations extend the use of stiripentol beyond the classical Dravet syndrome, and further studies on the use of this drug in drug-resistant epilepsy, mainly of genetic origin, are warranted.