Antiseizure medication in patients with Glioblastoma- a collaborative cohort study.
PURPOSE
We investigated, whether epileptic seizures (ES) as presenting symptom in adult patients with GBM are associated with better Overall Survival (OS) compared to ES presenting later during the course of GBM, and efficacy and safety of different antiseizure medications (ASMs).


METHODS
Retrospective consecutive cohort study of adults with GBM: 50 from Norway and 50 from Italy. We compared the time to changing ASM treatments. OS was investigated with a Cox regression model adjusted for time dependency.


RESULTS
Median follow-up was 17 months from GBM diagnosis. ES were the presenting symptom in 49 patients. All patients received ASM treatment. LEV was the first ASM in the majority of patients and the most effective at one year from the first prescription, (p = 0.004). Occurrence of adverse events (AEs) was similar between LEV and other ASMs (p = 0.47). Poorer OS correlated with older age at GBM diagnosis, country and ASM therapy. A negative impact of ASMs on OS was observed for LEV in a univariate and multivariate analysis, and for VPA (only in multivariate analysis), even when adjusted for O6-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) methylation status. Patients with ES as the onset symptom of GBM and patients who had first ES later had similar OS (p = 0.87).


CONCLUSION
ES as the GBM debut symptom did not lead to a longer OS. LEV was a more effective ASM compared to other treatments with no differences regarding AEs between LEV and other ASMs. Surprisingly, in our patients LEV and VPA were associated with worse OS than other ASMs. This result should be interpreted with caution due to the retrospective nature of this study along with the many variables which may affect the outcome in this population.
['Knudsen-Baas|Kristin M|KM|', 'Storstein|Anette M|AM|', 'Zarabla|Alessia|A|', 'Maialetti|Andrea|A|', 'Giannarelli|Diana|D|', 'Beghi|Ettore|E|', 'Maschio|Marta|M|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D001932:Brain Neoplasms D005909:Glioblastoma D006801:Humans D007558:Italy D009664:Norway D011379:Prognosis D012189:Retrospective Studies
Antiseizure medication Seizures Overall survival Brain tumor Epilepsy Glioblastoma Glioma