Is primary prevention with antiepileptic drugs effective in brain tumors or brain metastases?

Patients with brain tumors –primary or metastatic- have an increased risk of presenting seizures during the course of their disease. So, prophylactic antiepileptic drugs have been proposed. However, the effects of this intervention are not yet clear. To answer this question, we searched in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening multiple databases. We identified 12 systematic reviews including 80 studies overall. Twelve corresponded to randomized trials, but only two answered the question of interest. We extracted data, conducted a meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table using the GRADE method. We concluded primary prevention with antiepileptic drugs might not reduce the risk of seizures, and it is associated to frequent adverse effects.