To the Rescue: Incorporating Rescue Medications Into Epilepsy Treatment Plans

In this podcast episode, epileptologists Aatif Husain, MD, and John Stern, MD, have a conversation about rescue therapies and how they fit into the spectrum of epilepsy management. Their discussion begins with sharing what they consider the utility of rescue therapies to be in the overall spectrum of epilepsy. As the conversation goes on, they address the role of rescue therapies in more specific patient populations, such as the newly diagnosed patient, a patient experiencing seizure clusters, and patients who may be experiencing either very few or relatively many breakthrough seizure events. In all scenarios, the experts relate the use of rescue therapies as “insurance”—hoping that the agents don’t have to be used, but having them available as coverage in the worst-case scenario. The podcast goes on to discuss rescue therapies in terms of available routes and mechanisms of action and practical strategies for talking to patients about these agents. Rounding out the episode, Drs Husain and Stern express their hopes for future developments in epilepsy management.