Abstract
Purpose: We analyzed seizure frequencies before and during Lamotrigine (LTG) treatment of children with special focus on the etiology of their epilepsy syndrome.
Methods: Patient data were documented with the electronic seizure diary Epivista. Data on age, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) before LTG therapy, epilepsy diagnosis, etiology and concomitant AEDs were collected. Baseline and observation times were 28 days. Patients were grouped as idiopathic, cryptogenic or symptomatic. Reduction of seizure frequency >50%, >90% and seizure-freedom were evaluated.
Results: 31 patients aged from 2 to 14 years were evaluable. Prior to LTG therapy, patients received a mean of 4 AEDs. Patients received 1-2 concomitant AEDs when LTG was added (N = 27). Four patients received LTG as monotherapy. Epilepsy diagnoses were idiopathic N = 9 (focal N = 3, generalized N = 6), cryptogenic N = 7 (focal N = 7), symptomatic N = 15 (focal N = 14, generalized N = 3). Reduction of seizure frequencies >50%, >90% and 100% was observed in symptomatic epilepsies for 44%, 44% and 33%, in cryptogenic epilepsies for 57%, 43% and 29% and in idiopathic epilepsies for 47%, 8% and 4% of the patients (significant differences of >90% seizure reduction for symptomatic and cryptogenic epilepsies-value p< 0.05).
Discussion: Clinically relevant responses (>90% seizure reduction) were significantly more frequent in patients with symptomatic and cryptogenic compared to idiopathic epilepsies. We conclude that LTG may have a specific effect in symptomatic epilepsy syndromes.
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Shamansurov, S., Ziyamukhamedova, N., Sigatullina, M. et al. Efficacy of Lamotrigine in Children with Epilepsies of Various Etiology. Pediatr Res 70 (Suppl 5), 211 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2011.436
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2011.436