(A)TONIC SEIZURES AND NONCONVULSIVE STATUS EPILEPTICI AS SPECIAL TREATMENT INDICATION FOR LAMAOTRIGINE - RESULTS OF AN ADD-ON STUDY IN 46 PATIENTS WITH DRUG-REFRACTORY SEIZURES

Lamotrigine has proven to be an effective anticonvulsant drug in the treatment of pharmacoresistant focal and secondarily generalized seizures. A decrease in seizure frequency by more than 50% was seen in 22% of patients as a result arising from double-blind studies. In an own add-on study in 46 patients 30% of patients showed a decrease of seizure frequency by more than 50%. Apart from focal seizures generalized epileptic seizures, i.e., absences, generalized tonic or atonic seizures and nonconvulsive status epileptici may decrease in frequency due to treatment with lamotrigine. In our study this was the case in 5 out of 6 patients with absences and 6 out of 9 patients with (a)tonic seizures. All patients suffering from nonconvulsive status epileptici became seizure-free in respect of this seizure type.