Introduction: Tuberous sclerosis is a genetic disease, the main manifestations of which are the formation of neuroectodermal tumours, which are very often associated to secondary epilepsy.
Aim: To describe the epileptic profile, control, frequency of seizures and effectiveness of treatment in adult patients with tuberous sclerosis.
Patients and methods: The study was descriptive and included adult patients (over 14 years of age) with a confirmed diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis. Both the frequency and type of seizures were analysed. A study was conducted to analyse and record the number of different antiepileptic drugs in each patient and the frequency of use of each active ingredient, and the control of seizures and the type of therapy were also included in another comparative study.
Results: Of a total of 19 adults who were studied, 16 of them (84%) had epileptic seizures. Results showed that 44%, 25% and 31% of them presented full control of seizures, sporadic seizures and frequent seizures, respectively. A certain frequency of focal, general and both types of seizures existed in 38%, 6% and 25%, respectively. Likewise, 38%, 44% and 19% of them were under treatment with antiepileptic drugs in monotherapy, bitherapy and tritherapy, respectively. Overall, the most commonly consumed drug was levetiracetam, followed by carbamazepine and valproic acid. In monotherapy the most common was carbamazepine, with a higher proportion of full control.
Conclusions: Epilepsy in tuberous sclerosis is relatively benign and an acceptable degree of control is achieved in most cases with a number of the antiepileptic drugs recommended in the treatment guidelines. In our series, we observed stability of involvement and there was no progression to a malignant status. The small number of individuals in the sample limits the study, but the proportions of treatment effectiveness are seen to be similar to those observed in another series published in the literature.
Title: Control de la epilepsia en pacientes adultos con esclerosis tuberosa.
Introduccion. La esclerosis tuberosa es una enfermedad genetica cuyas manifestaciones principales son la formacion de tumores neuroectodermicos, que asocia epilepsia secundaria muy frecuentemente. Objetivo. Describir el perfil epileptico, el control, la frecuencia de crisis y la efectividad del tratamiento en pacientes adultos con esclerosis tuberosa. Pacientes y metodos. Estudio descriptivo en el que se han incluido pacientes adultos (mayores de 14 anos) con diagnostico confirmado de esclerosis tuberosa. Se ha analizado la frecuencia y tipos de crisis. Se ha realizado un estudio y contabilizacion de los diferentes farmacos antiepilepticos en cada paciente, la frecuencia de uso de cada principio activo y un estudio comparativo entre control de crisis y tipo de terapia. Resultados. De 19 adultos estudiados, tuvieron crisis epilepticas 16 (84%). Presentaron control de crisis completo, crisis esporadicas y crisis frecuentes el 44%, 25% y 31%, respectivamente. Hubo frecuencia de crisis focales, generalizadas y ambas en el 38%, 6% y 25%, respectivamente. Estaban en tratamiento con farmacos antiepilepticos en monoterapia, biterapia y triterapia el 38%, 44% y 19%, respectivamente. El mas consumido globalmente fue el levetiracetam, seguido de la carbamacepina y el acido valproico. En monoterapia, el mas frecuente fue la carbamacepina, con mayor proporcion de control completo. Conclusiones. La epilepsia en la esclerosis tuberosa es relativamente benigna, y se consigue un aceptable control en la mayoria de casos con un numero de antiepilepticos acorde con lo aconsejado en las guias de tratamiento. Se observa estabilidad de lesiones, y no hay malignizacion en nuestra serie. El bajo numero de la muestra limita el estudio, pero se observan proporciones similares de efectividad del tratamiento respecto a otra serie publicada.