caa a22 4500 44537764X CHVBK 20180317143007.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00702-010-0527-z doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00702-010-0527-z Schmidt Dieter Epilepsy Research Group, Goethestr. 5, 14163, Berlin, Germany aut AED discontinuation may be dangerous for seizure-free patients [Elektronische Daten] [Dieter Schmidt] Despite its benefits, stopping antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in seizure-free patients is associated with several risks. AED discontinuation doubles the risk of seizure recurrence for up to 2years compared with continued treatment. On average, one in three patients has a seizure recurrence, though the range can go up to 66% (34%, range 12-66%, 95% CI: 27-43). Furthermore, the outcome of treating a seizure recurrence in patients who have been seizure-free for years is surprisingly poor in some patients. Although the long-term prognosis is not worsened by drug discontinuation, one in five patients does not re-enter remission and for some patients, it may take several years to become seizure-free again. The risk of seizure recurrence is particularly high for those with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and symptomatic focal epilepsy, the most frequent epilepsies in adults. Seizure-recurrence may have devastating, medical, psychological and social consequences for the individual, for example injury, loss of self-esteem, unemployment and losing a driver's license. Discontinuation should be avoided in patients with a high risk of seizure recurrence. Given these risks, patients will ultimately have to decide themselves whether they wish to discontinue drug treatment after full informed consent. Springer-Verlag, 2010 Drug discontinuation nationallicence Risk factors nationallicence Outcome nationallicence Epilepsy nationallicence Journal of Neural Transmission Springer Vienna 118/2(2011-02-01), 183-186 0300-9564 118:2<183 2011 118 702 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-010-0527-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 review-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-010-0527-z text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Schmidt Dieter Epilepsy Research Group, Goethestr. 5, 14163, Berlin, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Neural Transmission Springer Vienna 118/2(2011-02-01), 183-186 0300-9564 118:2<183 2011 118 702 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer