lamotrigine as add-on therapy in children with drug-resistant epilepsy (iranian experience)

lamotrigine (ltg), a newly developed antiepileptic drug (aed), is efficacious in treating refractory epilepsy. this study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ltg as add-on therapy in 40 children with refractory epilepsy. the trial was an open-labeled prospective study in children with drug-resistant epilepsy aged <14 years, who had at least 4 seizures per month in spite of receiving at least 3 aed&apos;s. initial ltg dose and titration was adjusted based upon the aed&apos;s which were taken simultaneously. lamotrigine was increased in steps to maximal dose within 4 weeks and maintained for 3 months while pre-existing aed&apos;s remained unchanged. overall efficacy was defined if >50% reduction of seizure frequency was achieved during 3 months follow up. hematological and biochemical parameters were checked before and after the trial in all patients. the evaluation of drug safety consisted of chart review for treatment-emergent adverse events. among 40 patients who completed the trial, 21 of them (52.5%) had >50% reduction in seizure frequency. lamotrigine was effective in all seizure types, particularly typical absence. lennox-gastaut syndrome also responded well. skin rashes occured in 5 patients (10.6%) and resulted in ltg discontinuation. no significant changes were noted in laboratory results. these results indicated that ltg is well tolerated and is effective in controlling a variety of seizure types, especially absence epilepsy