The efficacy of lamotrigine in refractory infantile epilepsy

Introduction. The new antiepileptic drugs should also be evaluated outside clinical trials. Objective. To study the efficacy of treatment with lamotrigine in everyday neuropaediatric clinical practice. Patients and methods. We made a longitudinal study of all patients treated with lamotrigine in a hospital outpatients department. The efficacy was evaluated by: I. The number of patients showing partial response (greater than or equal to 50% reduction in seizures as compared to the basal rate), and total response maintained throughout the follow-up period. 2. Duration of treatment, studied using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results. 80 patients treated with LTG had as the aetiology of their seizures: idiopathic 3.7%, cryptogenic (51.3%) and symptomatic (45%). We found there to be partial control during the first three months of treatment in 60.8% of the patients, which was maintained after 12 months in 43.1%, and after three years in 30.7%. Total control of the seizures after three months was found in 14.8%, after twelve months in 9.8% and after three years in 3.8%. The probability of treatment with lamotrigine being maintained for six months was 86%, for twelve months 61% and for three years 31%. Lamotrigine was suspended in 38 patients (47.5%). Side effects were reported in five cases. Conclusions. lit clinical practice, the therapeutic effect not only consists of the percentage of patients who respond to treatment, but also the length of time this response is maintained. In our study, both measurements of effect showed results similar to those with classical antiepileptic drugs.