ABSTRACT
Brain Tumour Related Epilepsy (BTRE) has a significant impact on Quality of Life with implications for driving, employment, and social activities. Management of BTRE is complex due to the higher incidence of drug resistance and the potential for interaction between anti-cancer therapy and anti-seizure medications (ASMs). Neurologists, neurosurgeons, oncologists, palliative care physicians and clinical nurse specialists treating these patients would benefit from up-to-date clinical guidelines. We aim to review the current literature and to outline specific recommendations for the optimal treatment of BTRE, encompassing both Primary Brain Tumours (PBT) and Brain Metastases (BM). A comprehensive search of the literature since 1995 on BTRE was carried out in PubMed, MEDLINE and EMCARE. A broad search strategy was used, and the evidence evaluated and graded based on the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Levels of Evidence. Seizure frequency varies between 10 and 40% in patients with Brain Metastases (BM) and from 30% (high-grade gliomas) to 90% (low-grade gliomas) in patients with PBT. In patients with BM, risk factors include number of BM and melanoma histology. In patients with PBT, BTRE is more common in patients with lower grade histology, frontal and temporal tumours, presence of an IDH mutation and cortical infiltration. All patients with BTRE should be treated with ASMs. Non-enzyme inducing ASMs are recommended as first line treatment for BTRE, but up to 50% of patients with BTRE due to PBT remain resistant. There is no proven benefit for the use of prophylactic ASMs, although there are no randomised trials testing newer agents. Surgical and oncological treatments i.e. radiotherapy and chemotherapy improve BTRE. Vagus Nerve Stimulation has been used with partial success. The review highlights the relative dearth of high-quality evidence for the management of BTRE and provides a framework for further studies aiming to improve seizure control, quality of life, and indications for ASMs.KEY POINTSOffer levetiracetam or lamotrigine to all patients with primary or metastatic brain tumours who have seizure(s), irrespective of whether these are partial or generalised.ASM withdrawal for patients in remission is not recommended due to high rates of seizure recurrence.ASM prophylaxis is not generally recommended in the management of seizure-naïve patients.Both levetiracetam and lamotrigine are safe in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
ABSTRACT
Chronic pain conditions are prevalent and cause a significant burden of disease. Intravenous lidocaine infusions have been reported to have an analgesic effect in patients with chronic neuropathic pain, but there is limited data supporting the efficacy of lidocaine across other chronic pain phenotypes. Our study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a single infusion of intravenous lidocaine for pain relief and the impact on quality of life. We evaluated data from 74 patients with chronic pain who were treated with intravenous lidocaine at a specialist pain centre. Participants completed a questionnaire consisting of the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) Short Form and additional EQ-5D quality of life metrics, before treatment and at follow-up. Data comparing pain severity did not demonstrate a statistically significant change after treatment when averaged across the entire patient cohort (6.15-5.88, p = .106), irrespective of gender or pain phenotype. Scores for pain interference showed statistically significant reductions following treatment (7.05-6.41, p = .023), which may have been driven through improvements in sleep (7.41-6.35, p = .001); however, these reductions are not clinically significant. The patient cohort was stratified into responders and non-responders based on >30% improvement in response to an overall impression of pain reduction question following treatment. In the 'responder' cohort, pain intensity scores showed a statistically significant reduction post-infusion (6.18-5.49, p = .0135), but no change was apparent for non-responders (6.07-6.09, p = .920). There were no differences between responders and non-responders for pain sub-types in our study. This study found no difference in pain outcomes in a cohort of patients with chronic pain, a mean of 63 days following a single lidocaine infusion. However, a specific subgroup of responders may show slight improvements in some pain outcomes that may warrant further exploration.
