LAMOTRIGINE IN TREATMENT OF 120 CHILDREN WITH EPILEPSY

One hundred twenty children aged 10 months to 16 years 9 months were included in three studies with lamotrigine (LTG): a single-blind study (n = 60), a pharmacokinetic study (n = 23), and a compassionate group (n = 37). At 3 months, 11 patients had become seizure-free and 34 had >50% decrease in seizure frequency. The best results involved absence epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), and other symptomatic generalized epilepsy. Forty-two patients were followed >1 year, 22 for a mean of 2.2 years, and there was no significant increase in seizure frequency as compared with 3-month follow-up. Fourteen patients became seizure-free for >6 months; all except 1 had generalized epilepsy. For 12 patients, treatment could be reduced to monotherapy, but for those with valproate (VPA) comedication LTG dosage had to be increased; 25% of patients with VPA monotherapy exhibited skin rash, appearing 3-18 days after starting LTG. For 4 patients, LTG could be reintroduced after VPA was withdrawn. Ten patients had ataxia and/or drowsiness and 2 had vomiting. For all other patients, tolerance was excellent.