A Clinical Overview of the New Antiepileptic Drugs

Over the past decade, several new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have become available including Gabapentin, Lamotrigine, Topiramate, Tiagabine, Oxcarbazepine, Levetiracetam, Zonisamide, Vigabatrin and Felbamate. These drugs had proved their efficacy in various types of seizures. Lamotrigine and Topiramate were suggeseted as effective for use as monotherapy for generalized seizures, and Topiramate, Lamotrigine, Oxcarbazepine and Gabapentin for partial onset seizures, and Vigabatrin for infantile spasms. All the new anti-epileptic drugs are also effective as add-on therapy for partial seizures without or with secondary generalization. This article briefly reviews the pharmacodynamics of the new antiepileptic drugs to provide information that physicians in the Kingdom particularly non-epileptologists for rational choice and judicious use of these agents.