EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS IN EPILEPTIC CHILDREN TREATED WITH MONOTHERAPY

N200 and P300 of event-related potentials (ERPs) were compared between 73 epileptic children and 73 age-matched normal controls. The former group was composed of patients undergoing monotherapy and having neither mental retardation nor gross organic brain lesion. P300 was not influenced by the types of epileptic syndrome, types of seizure, kinds of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), frequencies of seizures, EEG abnormality, or durations of illness. In 9 of 24 patients of the carbamazepine (CBZ) group, the P300 latency was prolonged with z-scores >2 above the normal standard mean value. In all other drug groups, the z-scores remained within the level of 2. In 5 of 32 patients with complex partial seizures (CPS), the P300 latency was prolonged. All these patients were receiving CBZ monotherapy. Our results showed that P300 latency could be prolonged in some of the CBZ-treated patients, although statistically significant differences were not observed among the drug groups. These findings suggest that P300 can detect a subtle functional change in the CNS induced by CBZ.