Original ArticlesEfficacy, tolerability, and kinetics of lamotrigine in infants☆,☆☆
Section snippets
Methods
We investigated patients <1 year of age with intractable seizures (partial seizures or infantile spasms). Inclusion criteria were (1) intractable seizures that persisted despite trials of at least three of the first-line antiepileptic drugs as monotherapy or polytherapy (for infantile spasms, first-line drugs included adrenocorticotropic hormone, vigabatrine, valproate, or benzodiaepines; for partial seizures, previous first-line antiepileptic drugs [AEDs] included phenobarbital, phenytoin,
Results
The study population consisted of 13 patients with a mean age of 3.66 months at the time of initiation of LTG (range, 2 weeks to 12 months). Five were 2 to 4 weeks and 6 were <2 months old. Each had either partial seizures alone (6), infantile spasms alone (6), or both (1) (Table).Antiepileptic drug(s)* No. of patients Seizure type† Phenobarbital 4 Partial seizures 2 IS Valproate 2 IS Phenytoin and phenobarbital 2 Partial seizures Valproate and
Discussion
Our experience shows that LTG can be effective as an add-on medication in infants with partial seizures or with infantile spasms. Lamotrigine had similar efficacy in children <1 year of age with partial seizures as compared with those 1 to 12 years of age. These findings are consistent with previous observations that antiepileptic drugs that are effective in partial seizures in adults and older children are also effective in young children and infants with partial seizure.5, 6 However, the same
Acknowledgements
We thank the Department of Pediatrics staff, nurses, and house staff, particularly Dr Roula Choueri, Dr Dana Hasbini, and Miss Suzan Natour for their help in performing this study. We thank Glaxo-Wellcome for providing the medication and for the LTG assays.
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Cited by (0)
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Supported by grant URB 114170-48119.
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Reprint requests: Mohamad Mikati, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Adult and Pediatric Epilepsy Program, American University of Beirut, 850 Third Ave (18th Floor), New York, NY 10022.