Lamotrigine Treatment in Childhood Drug-Resistant Epilepsy

Authors: NEDRET URAN, GÜL SERDAROĞLU, ŞEBNEM ÇALKAVUR, ERKİN SERDAROĞLU

Abstract: Rationale: In this study the efficacy of Lamotrigine was evaluated in children with medically intractable epilepsy. Methods: 22 epileptic children, ranging between 4.2 years and 15 years of age (mean 9.3 years) were included in this study. Twelve (54.5%) were male and 10 (45.5%) were female. The seizure types were classified according to the International League Against Epilepsy criteria: simple partial seizures (8 cases), infantile spasms (4 cases), generalized tonic-clonic seizures (2 cases), tonic seizures (2 cases), complex partial seizure (2 cases), typical absence seizures (2 cases), myoclonic astatic seizures (1 case) and atypical absence seizures (1 case). The neurological and physical examination, seizure frequency, seizure types, electroencephalograms, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings were evaluated in all cases. The cases were followed up for 5 to 39 months (mean 16.8 months). The response was evaluated as 100%, 75% and 50% reduction in seizure frequency. Results: Response was favourable in 9 a total of cases (40.9%): 100% in 2 cases (9.1%), 75% in 4 cases (18.2%) and 50% in 3 cases (13.6%). Six cases developed tolerance. We had no response in 7 cases (31.8%). The seizure types were generalized tonic-clonic, absence and simple partial seizures in 6 cases in which we had 100% and 75% response.

Keywords: Lamotrigine, drug resistant epilepsy, intractable epilepsy

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