Topiramate monotherapy as broad-spectrum antiepileptic drug in a naturalistic clinical setting

Topiramate was assessed in an open-label trial as broad-spectrum antiepileptic monotherapy, independently from the epilepsy type or syndrome. Adults and children aged 2 years and older, who were diagnosed with epilepsy within the last 5 years, treatment-naive or failing prior treatment with one antiepileptic drug (AED), received individually adjusted doses of topiramate, after escalation to 100 mg/day over 4 weeks (maximum 400 mg/day) or 3 mg/kg/day over 6 weeks (maximum 9 mg/ kg/day), respectively. Patients were followed for >= 7 months and optionally up to a maximum of 13 months. Data were analysed for all patients (n = 692), as well as for focal (n = 421) and generalized epilepsies (n = 148).