1. This study investigated the efficacy and safety of lacosamide (LCM) as a monotherapy or an adjunctive treatment with other anti-seizure medications (ASMs) in Chinese children with epilepsy.
2. The study found that LCM was effective and well tolerated, with approximately 70% of patients achieving ≥50% seizure frequency reductions after 6 months of add-on therapy and 81% after one year.
3. The reference range for routine LCM therapeutic drug monitoring was determined to be 2.0–7.0 μg/mL, based on the data collected in this study.
This article is a retrospective study investigating the efficacy and safety of lacosamide (LCM) as a monotherapy or an adjunctive treatment with other anti-seizure medications (ASMs) in Chinese children with epilepsy, as well as evaluating potential factors affecting its efficacy and variable LCM plasma concentrations in these children. The article is generally reliable, providing evidence from 76 pediatric patients enrolled in the study, along with detailed information about their age, dose of LCM administered, plasma trough concentration (C0), seizure frequency reduction achieved over 6 months and 1 year follow-up periods, etc. However, there are some points that could be improved upon to make the article more trustworthy and reliable.
First, while the authors provide evidence from 76 pediatric patients enrolled in the study, they do not provide any information about how these patients were selected for inclusion in the study or what criteria were used to determine eligibility for enrollment. This lack of information makes it difficult to assess whether any selection bias may have been present during patient recruitment for this study.
Second, while the authors discuss potential factors influencing LCM plasma concentrations such as age and body weight (BW), they do not provide any evidence to support their claims regarding these factors’ influence on LCM plasma concentrations. Furthermore, they do not explore any other potential factors that may influence LCM plasma concentrations such as diet or lifestyle habits which could potentially affect drug absorption or metabolism rates.
Finally, while the authors discuss complex drug interactions between LCM and other concomitant ASMs observed during their study period, they do not provide any evidence to support their claims regarding these interactions nor do they explore any possible counterarguments that could explain why certain interactions may have occurred or why certain drugs may have had an effect on LCM plasma concentrations while others did not.
In conclusion, this article provides useful information regarding the efficacy and safety of lacosamide (LCM) as a monotherapy or an adjunctive treatment with other anti-seizure medications (ASMs) in Chinese children with epilepsy; however it could be improved by providing more detailed information about patient selection criteria used for enrollment into this study as well as providing evidence to support claims made regarding potential influencing factors on LCM plasma concentrations and complex drug interactions between LCM and other concomitant ASMs observed during their study period.