Clinical efficacy and safety of lamotrigine monotherapy in newly diagnosed pediatric patients with epilepsy.
10.3345/kjp.2010.53.4.565
- Author:
Ji Hye HAN
1
;
Jung Eun OH
;
Sun Jun KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Pediatrics, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Korea. sunjun@chonbuk.ac.kr
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Lamotrigine;
Efficacy;
Safety;
Epilepsy;
Child
- MeSH:
Child;
Epilepsies, Partial;
Epilepsy;
Epilepsy, Absence;
Epilepsy, Generalized;
Exanthema;
Freedom;
Humans;
Lost to Follow-Up;
Male;
Myoclonic Epilepsy, Juvenile;
Prospective Studies;
Seizures;
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome;
Tics;
Triazines
- From:Korean Journal of Pediatrics
2010;53(4):565-569
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: To verify the efficacy and safety of lamotrigine (LTG) monotherapy in newly diagnosed children with epilepsy. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 148 children who had undergone LTG monotherapy at our institution between September 2002 and June 2009. Twenty-nine patients were excluded: 19 due to incomplete data and 10 were lost to follow up. The data of the remaining 119 patients was analyzed. RESULTS: We enrolled 119 pediatric epilepsy patients (aged 2.8-19.3 years; 66 males and 53 females) in this study. Out of 119 patients, 29 (25.2%) had generalized epilepsy and 90 (74.8%) had partial epilepsy. The responses of seizure reduction were as follows: Seizure freedom (no seizure attack for at least 6 months) in 87/111 (78.4%, n=111) patients; partial response (reduced seizure frequency compared to baseline) in 13 (11.7%) patients; and persistent seizure in 11 (9.9%) patients. The seizure freedom rate was in 81.6% in patients with partial seizure (75.9% for complex partial seizure and 90.9% for benign rolandic epilepsy) and 44.8% in patients with generalized epilepsy (30.0% for absence seizure, 35.7% for juvenile myoclonic epilepsy patients, and 100.0% for idiopathic generalized epilepsy patients). Adverse reactions were reported in 17 (14.3%) patients, and 8 patients (6.7%) discontinued LTG because of rash and tic. No patient experienced severe adverse reaction such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome. CONCLUSION: LTG showed excellent therapeutic response and had few significant adverse effects. Our findings report may contribute in promoting the use of LTG monotherapy in epileptic children.