NEW YORK, Nov 09 (Reuters Health) -- For children with epilepsy who continue to have seizures despite the use of traditional antiepileptic drugs, adding another drug called lamotrigine (sold under the name Lamictal) may offer safe and effective relief, according to the results of a new study.
"At last, children with difficult-to-control epilepsy can enjoy more seizure-free days," one of the study's authors, Dr. William D. Graf, of the Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, said in a statement.
"This medication not only helps control seizures, it works without causing drowsiness," Graf added. "Kids can now stay awake in class and participate in after-school activities."
Graf and his colleagues studied the effect of lamotrigine on 201 children aged 2 to 16.
The researchers, led by Dr. Michael Duchowny of Miami Children's Hospital in Florida, randomly assigned the children to receive either lamotrigine or a placebo (inactive) pill. Over a 6-week period, the children took a gradually increasing dose of the medication or placebo. They then continued to take the same dose for 12 weeks.
Adding lamotrigine significantly reduced the frequency of seizures, compared with treatment with the placebo, the authors report in the November issue of the journal Neurology, a publication of the American Academy of Neurology.
The investigators measured the effect of the drug on two types of seizures: partial seizures, which affect one side of the brain; and secondary generalized seizures, which affect both sides of the brain.
The frequency of all partial seizures was reduced by at least one-half in 42% of children taking lamotrigine, but only in 16% of those taking placebo. In addition, the percentage of children who experienced at least a 50% reduction in the frequency of seizures that spread throughout the brain was more than twice as high in the group taking lamotrigine, compared with the placebo group (53% versus 26%).
Children who took the drug also enjoyed many more seizure-free days than children who took the placebo pill.
Lamotrigine and placebo caused a similar number of side effects, although two children taking the drug did have to be hospitalized for a rash, the researchers report. This side effect can most likely be avoided, however, Duchowny's team notes, by not taking lamotrigine with a certain other epilepsy drug or exceeding the recommended dose.
"We're always searching for a new treatment that offers hope to treat this type of seizure disorder," Duchowny explained in an interview with Reuters Health. Effective pediatric therapies are especially important, he said, because "if partial epilepsy is not controlled in childhood, the chances of leading a productive adult life are small."
