The relationship between seizures, interictal spikes and antiepileptic drugs

Abstract

Objective A considerable decrease in spike rate accompanies antiepileptic drug (AED) taper during intracranial EEG (icEEG) monitoring. Since spike rate during icEEG monitoring can be influenced by surgery to place intracranial electrodes, we studied spike rate during long-term scalp EEG monitoring to further test this observation. Methods We analyzed spike rate, seizure occurrence and AED taper in 130 consecutive patients over an average of 8.9 days (range 5–17 days). Results We observed a significant relationship between time to the first seizure, spike rate, AED taper and seizure occurrence (F (3,126) = 19.77, p < 0.0001). A high spike rate was related to a longer time to the first seizure. Further, in a subset of 79 patients who experienced seizures on or after day 4 of monitoring, spike rate decreased initially from an on- to off-AEDs epoch (from 505.0 to 382.3 spikes per hour, p < 0.00001), and increased thereafter with the occurrence of seizures. Conclusions There is an interplay between seizures, spikes and AEDs such that spike rate decreases with AED taper and increases after seizure occurrence. Significance The direct relationship between spike rate and AEDs and between spike rate and time to the first seizure suggests that spikes are a marker of inhibition rather than excitation.