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Add-On Lamotrigine Treatment in Children and Young Adults With Severe Partial Epilepsy: An Open, Prospective, Long-Term Study

Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy, Neurology Department, King's College Hospital, London, United Kingdom

Anna Belmonte, MD

Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy

Anna Rita Ferrari, MD

Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy

Emilio Perucca, MD

Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, University of Pavia, Italy

Renzo Guerrini, MD

Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy, R.Guerrini{at}iop.kcl.ac.uk, Neurology Department, King's College Hospital, London, United Kingdom

We evaluated the efficacy and safety of lamotrigine in 41 children and young adults (age range, 3-25 years; mean, 12 years) with drug-resistant, partial epilepsies, based on a prospective, add-on study Patients had severe symptomatic/cryptogenic partial epilepsies (mean seizure frequency = 3.6/day), resistant to one to four major antiepileptic drugs. Mean seizure frequency significantly decreased (P < .001) throughout the period of treatment. A good response (>50% seizure reduction) was observed in 15 patients of whom 6 were seizure-free (follow-up: 12-48 months). Higher responder rate was found among cryptogenic epilepsies and epilepsies symptomatic of cerebral malformation, whereas patients with posthypoxicischemic perinatal damage were poor responders. Lamotrigine discontinuation was mainly due to lack of efficacy (46% of patients), whereas only 2 patients developed a transient skin rash and did not drop out. Lamotrigine represents a valuable treatment for severe partial epilepsies of childhood that have proved resistant to previous antiepileptic drugs. (J Child Neurol 2000;15:671-674).

Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 15, No. 10, 671-674 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/088307380001501006


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