This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Dodson, W. E. Articles by Bourgeois, B. F.D. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Dodson, W. E. Articles by Bourgeois, B. F.D. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Pharmacology and Therapeutic Aspects of Antiepileptic Drugs in Pediatrics

Departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery (Neurology), and the Edward Mallinckrodt Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

Blaise F.D. Bourgeois, MD

Departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery (Neurology), and the Edward Mallinckrodt Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

In the past year, several new antiepileptic drugs have emerged that have potential benefits for children with epilepsy. The spectrum of adverse effects is the principal feature that differentiates among the older drugs used to treat partial and related seizures, including simple partial, complex partial, and partial secondarily generalized seizures. Based on studies in adults with refractory seizures, the new or investigational compounds felbamate, gabapentin, lamotrigine, and vigabatrin should be active against these types of seizures in children, but none of them have been subjected to pediatric randomized controlled trials, and no studies have been done that compare new and old drugs in this category. Thus, the new drugs hold promise in children with these types of seizures, but their role relative to old drugs has not been elucidated. Several of the new drugs are active against myoclonic and generalized tonic-clonic seizures, but thus far, none have been proven to possess antiabsence activity in children. Open-label investigations suggest that lamotrigine may be helpful in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and vigabatrin in infantile spasms. Only felbamate has been evaluated in a randomized controlled study in children, in which it has proven beneficial against astatic and generalized tonic-clonic seizures in children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Whereas investigations of these and other novel drugs are ongoing, this is an active and exciting period in pediatric antiepileptic drug development. (J Child Neurol 1994;9(Suppl):2S1-2S7).

Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 9, No. 2 Suppl, 281-287 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/0883073894009002011


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?