Lamotrigine as first-line drug in childhood absence epilepsy: a clinical and neurophysiological study

To investigate to which extent lamotrigine (LTG) may be effective and tolerated as a monotherapy for the treatment of newly diagnosed childhood absence seizures and, secondly, to evaluate the efficacy of this drug on the circadian interictal generalized epileptiform discharges, 20 consecutive newly diagnosed patients (five males, 15 females), aged 3-10 years (mean 6.9 years), affected by childhood absence epilepsy, were administered LTG as first-line drug at the initial dose of 0.5 mg/kg/day for 2 weeks, followed by 1.0 mg/kg/day for an additional 2 weeks. Thereafter, doses have been increased in 1-mg/kg/day increments up to 9-12 mg/kg/day in accordance with the clinical response. Each patient underwent an ambulatory (24 h) EEG monitoring before starting LTG therapy (time 0) and during the maintenance period at the end of LTG titration (time 1). After a mean follow-up period of 10.8 months (range 3-28 months), a 100% seizure control was obtained in 11 children (55.5%), a more than 75% seizure decrease was present in four (20%), and a >50% seizure decrease in five (25%), with a mean LTG dose of 6.2 mg/kg/day (range 1.2-11) in the controlled group. Adverse events were present in three patients (15%); they were generally mild and transient. Our series confirms that LTG monotherapy may control typical childhood absence seizures in about half the children as well as it may decrease interictal generalized spike and wave discharges both in seizure-free and uncontrolled patients. The slow titration phase of the drug due to the risk of the skin rash may eventually reduce compliance.