Second-line Cannabis Therapy in Patients with Epilepsy
Abstract number :
2.267
Submission category :
7. Anti-seizure Medications / 7E. Other
Year :
2022
Submission ID :
2203907
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/4/2022 12:00:00 PM
Published date :
Nov 22, 2022, 05:22 AM
Authors :
Erica Braun, MD – Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center ; Francesca Gualano, BS – Medical Student, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine; Prabha Siddarth, Ph.D. – Research Statistician, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles; Eric Segal, M.D. – Director of Pediatric Epilepsy, Northeast Regional Epilepsy Group
Rationale: Marijuana-based therapies (MBTs) have been shown to reduce seizure frequency in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE). However, the utility of prescribing a second formulation of MBT after a first is tried is unclear. To our knowledge, this question of utility has not been investigated or characterized before. This study serves as a pilot to retrospectively assess if a second formulation of MBT significantly reduces seizure frequency after a patient has already tried a first formulation of MBT. The culminating aim is to educate prescribers on whether or not they should cycle through multiple formulations of MBT after a first either fails or is discontinued for any given reason.
Methods: We reviewed the charts of 30 patients at our center with DRE who were at least 2 years old and tried at least 2 different formulations of MBT. Seizure frequency, side effect profiles, and predictors of responder status were assessed. Mixed effects models were used to examine whether seizure frequencies changed as MBTs were instituted, and logistic regression models were used to examine predictors of response. For all inferences, significance was set to p< .05 to avoid loss of findings secondary to over-correction.
Anti-seizure Medications