Substitution has better efficacy than add-on therapy for patients with focal epilepsy after their first antiepileptic drug treatments fail

Monotherapy is generally recognized as the first-line treatment option for patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy [1,2]. After monotherapy, 70-80% patients will be seizure-free and 60-70% can stop receiving treatment through 2-5 years of standard rational first monotherapy [3–5]. While, there are still 30-40% patients who cannot get seizure free by first monotherapy due to inadequate control, intolerable side effect, and some other reasons [6]. Moreover, the chance of seizure free will distinctly decline after failure of monotherapy.

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