[Effectiveness and tolerance of adjunctive treatment of lamotrigine and conversion to monotherapy in pediatric patients with epilepsy. Preliminary studies].

The examination concerned patients with intractable epilepsy aged 9-19 years with partial seizures simple or complex, developing into generalized ones years, treated with VPA (valproate) or CBZ (carbamazepine). They received VPA or CBZ for at least 4 weeks and even with the therapeutic concentration of these drugs in blood serum in the month preceding the examination they demonstrated seizures at least twice. For a period of 8 weeks lamotrigine (LTG) was progressively added to the therapy. Both drugs were administered for at least 8 weeks in a full dose. In case of achieving a good therapeutic effect assessed on the basis of at least 50% seizure reduction the use of VPA or CBZ was gradually discontinued. In the period of 12-week observation an application of LTG monotherapy 2/3 of patients achieved 50-100% reduction of seizures. These patients improved reasoning dynamics and memorizing ability. After LTG administration EEG showed normalization of background activity and reduction of number and time of epileptic discharges.