The aim of this study was to assess outcome and seizure response to treatment with stiripentol (STP) associated to valproate (VPA) and clobazam (CLB), which we have used in our center since the 1990s, in patients with Dravet syndrome (DS).
We performed a cross-sectional study of all DS patients with SCN1A mutations who had at least one visit to our center in 2013. A total of 54 patients were included (32 males, 22 females), whose ages ranged from 2.5 to 22 years.
Seizure onset ranged from 2 to 9 months (mean 5 months). Treatment started at a mean age of 7 months with valproate (VPA) as first therapy in 83% of patients. STP was prescribed in 96% at an average age of 20 months. At last follow-up (up to 22 years, median 8 years), 96% were still receiving STP, with VPA and clobazam (CLB) in 91%. Additional therapies were prescribed in 72% of patients. Most patients (96%) continued to have clonic or tonic-clonic seizures but they were brief (<5min, with last status epilepticus (SE) episode being before 4 years of age). Seizures occurred weekly (>3/month) in 38% of patients, monthly (1-3/month) in 40%, and yearly in the remaining patients. None presented with daily seizures. Seizure frequency at last visit was related to the age of treatment initiation, the age of last SE, and SCN1A mutation type.
Triple therapy with STP, VPA, and CLB was maintained long-term by 96% of this large DS cohort because the reduced frequency and severity of seizures STP provided when added to CLB and VPA was durable. Nevertheless, only a few patients achieved seizure freedom and persisting seizures remains a concern in the majority of patients.

OBJECTIVE: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are often used in the treatment of depressive disorders in patients with epilepsy. Pro- and anti-convulsive effects of SSRIs are discussed controversially. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible impact of SSRIs-treatment on duration of EEG and clinical features in epilepsy patients.
METHODS: We studied video-EEG data from 162 patients with focal epilepsies between January 2006 and March 2008 using a case-control study design. Eleven patients with 19 complex focal seizures (CFSs) and 16 secondary generalized tonic-clonic seizures (sGTCSs) treated with SSRIs (SSRIs+) were matched to 13 patients without SSRIs-treatment (SSRIs-). We compared duration of ictal EEG in CFSs and sGTCSs, duration of convulsions in sGTCSs and duration of postictal EEG suppression after sGTCSs in SSRIs+ and SSRIs- patients.
RESULTS: Ictal EEG duration of both, CFSs and sGTCSs, was significantly longer in SSRIs+ patients than in SSRIs- patients (p=0.004 and p=0.015, respectively). No significant difference was found between convulsive phase duration of sGTCSs as well as duration of postictal EEG suppression after sGTCSs in both groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Seizures last significantly longer in patients with epilepsy and SSRIs as co-medication. A causative role of SSRIs in ictal activity has to be explored in prospective studies.