Prophylactic antiepileptic treatment in Sturge–Weber disease

Purpose: In Sturge–Weber disease, motor and cognitive defects are supposed to result mostly from severe epilepsy. They might, therefore be partly prevented by prophylactic antiepileptic drug treatment. This condition constitutes a possible model for the study of prophylactic drug treatment in severe epilepsy. In the present study, we compared the outcome of patients treated prospectively with phenobarbitone before the first seizure, with those referred following the first seizure, in order to identify the issues related to the evaluation of prophylactic treatment of severe epilepsy.