Clinical feasibility of immediate overnight switching from slow-release carbamazepine to oxcarbazepine in Korean patients with refractory partial epilepsy

We assessed the clinical variables predicting the feasibility of immediate overnight switching from slow-release carbamazepine to oxcarbazepine in Korean patients with refractory partial epilepsy. Thirty patients aged 15 years or older with refractory partial epilepsy, who had been treated with slow-release carbamazepine as monotherapy or in combination therapy, were switched overnight from slow-release carbamazepine (mean dose at switching, 900 mg/day) to oxcarbazepine. Of these 30 patients, 29(96.7%) had been treated with a slow-release formulation of carbamazepine. The proportion of patients with polytherapy was 85.3%. Overall, 9 of 30 (30%) switched patients experienced clinically significant adverse events until 2 weeks after switching, including 2 with seizure aggravation. The only clinical variable related to the failure of overnight switching was the number of seizures at baseline. (C) 2010 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.