New antiepileptic drugs in epileptology

New antiepileptic drugs have been developed and released for the treatment of chronic focal and secondarily generalized epileptic seizures. The anticonvulsant efficacy of these drugs (vigabatrin, lamotrigine, gabapentin, felbamate, tiagabine, topiramate and oxcarbazepine) does not seem to be superior to that of traditional anticonvulsants. The main advantage of these newly developed drugs is a different spectrum of possible adverse events (i.e. these drugs usually do not induce sedation). Moreover, interactions with traditional anticonvulsants are less common, therefore, comedication with these drugs shows an improved tolerability. The availability of new antiepileptic drugs enables us to establish an individually tailored anticonvulsant strategy for each patient.