EEC 2022 | The treatment of status epilepticus in post-stroke epilepsy

Yaroslav Winter, MD, Mainz Comprehensive Epilepsy and Sleep Medicine Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, describes the treatment of status epilepticus in post-stroke epilepsy. The current evidence regarding new generation antiseizure medications in this setting is limited. Dr Winter outlines a study that investigated 101 patients to determine the efficacy and safety of brivaracetam, perampanel, lacosamide and eslicarbazepine as medications for post-stroke status epilepticus. It was found that the mechanism of action of the drug played a large role in its success against post-stroke epilepsy. In fact, lacosamide and eslicarbazepine share mechanisms of action (i.e., slowly inhibiting sodium channels), and showed the greatest efficacy compared to other anti-seizure medications. The results of these observational studies motivate further trials to substantiate these findings in randomized placebo-controlled or comparative studies. These concepts are important as the mechanism of action of a medication might tackle different causes of strokes and different types of strokes diversely. This interview took place at the 14th European Epilepsy Congress (EEC) 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland.