In patients with a glioma, 50–80% will have seizures during their lifetime and half of these will be drug resistant. Seizure risk is increased perioperatively (around the time of surgery) at tumour progression and shortly before death. In seizure-naive patients with glioma undergoing surgery, existing guidelines do not recommend routine use of prophylactic antiseizure medication. Despite this, an antiseizure medication, levetiracetam, is frequently prescribed perioperatively in many neurosurgical units.
