Use of phenytoin for the long-term treatment of partial seizures: Results of a survey conducted during the 2004 meeting of the American Academy of Neurology.

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is a chronic disorder that typically requires lifelongpharmacologic treatment. The choice of an antiepileptic drug (AED), therefore, requires careful consideration of efficacy and tolerability. However, the majority of patients with new-onset seizures are initially treated by physicians in the emergency department (ED) or by non-ED physicians (primary care physicians or internists), with phenytoin being the most common AED prescribed for initial therapy, and the long-term adverse effects of AEDs are often overlooked.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this survey was to examine the perspectives of neurologistsand epileptologists concerning initial therapies prescribed by ED physicians and non-ED physicians for newly diagnosed partial seizures, particularly phenytoin, and the suitability of these therapies for long-term management of the disease.
METHODS: A computerized survey was conducted during the 2004 AmericanAcademy of Neurology meeting. The survey consisted of 10 questions concerning the use of AEDs in the initial and long-term treatment of newly diagnosed partial seizures.
RESULTS: The responses of 268 practitioners were analyzed. Survey participants indicated that 71% of patients referred to them by ED physicians were receiving phenytoin, whereas 59% of patients referred to them by non-ED physicians were receiving phenytoin. Seventy-six percent of survey participants responded that they would switch a patient having partial seizures referred from the ED to another AED. Seventy-eight percent indicated that they did not believe that the medications being received by patients with newly diagnosed partial seizures in the ED were suitable for long-term epilepsy treatment.
CONCLUSION: Although appropriate treatment might vary in the acute and chronic settings, and phenytoin is used as a primary agent for acute treatment of seizures presenting in the ED, the results of the present survey suggest a discrepancy between the medications that primary care and ED physicians prescribe for newly diagnosed partial seizures and those that specialists prescribe for long-term therapy.