Efficacy of felbamate in the treatment of intractable pediatric epilepsy. Pediatr Neurol 2010 Jun;42(6):396-403
Date
05/18/2010Pubmed ID
20472190DOI
10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2010.02.013Scopus ID
2-s2.0-77952105490 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 41 CitationsAbstract
The antiepileptic drug felbamate has demonstrated efficacy against a variety of seizure types in the pediatric population, particularly seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Postmarketing experience, however, revealed serious idiosyncratic adverse effects not observed during clinical trials, including aplastic anemia and liver failure. As a result, many physicians have been hesitant to prescribe felbamate. This retrospective study evaluated the efficacy of felbamate in a pediatric population with intractable epilepsy. Of 38 patients, 22 had Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (58%); 6 had myoclonic-astatic epilepsy of Doose (16%); 5 had symptomatic generalized epilepsy, not otherwise specified (13%); and 5 had symptomatic localization-related epilepsy (13%). Most patients had multiple seizure types and had been tried on a variety of antiepileptic medications. With felbamate treatment, 6 patients (16%) became seizure free, including 4 of the 6 patients with myoclonic-astatic epilepsy of Doose; 24 patients (63%) had a greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency. In this population felbamate appeared to be safe, with minimal adverse effects. The study is limited by the small number of patients and by its retrospective nature, but nonetheless adds to the evidence that felbamate is an important antiepileptic drug for medically refractory epilepsy in children and is well tolerated with few adverse effects.
Author List
Zupanc ML, Roell Werner R, Schwabe MS, O'Connor SE, Marcuccilli CJ, Hecox KE, Chico MS, Eggener KAMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAnticonvulsants
Child
Child, Preschool
Electroencephalography
Epilepsy
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Phenylcarbamates
Propylene Glycols
Retrospective Studies
Seizures
Treatment Outcome
