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[The development of epilepsy during fetal gestation: a prospective study of 45 women]
I Pérez López-Fraile1, J Castrillo Rubio, A Oliveros Juste
1Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Miguel Servet, Zaragoza.
We observed a clinical deterioration of epilepsy observed during pregnancy in 29% of 45 consecutive epileptic women. Increase in frequency of attacks is not related to type of attack, previous frequency, type of epilepsy, age at first appearance, family history or presence of anomalies by computed tomography imaging. No association has been found between recurrence of attacks and maintenance of sub-therapeutic plasma levels of anti-epileptic drugs (AED). In 60% of the patients who deteriorate, there is a temporal relation between increase in attacks and the suspension of or reduction of AED doses. Changes observed during one pregnancy cannot always predict what will happen during subsequent pregnancies.
We observed a clinical deterioration of epilepsy observed during pregnancy in 29% of 45 consecutive epileptic women. Increase in frequency of attacks is not related to type of attack, previous frequency, type of epilepsy, age at first appearance, family history or presence of anomalies by computed tomography imaging. No association has been found between recurrence of attacks and maintenance of sub-therapeutic plasma levels of anti-epileptic drugs (AED). In 60% of the patients who deteriorate, there is a temporal relation between increase in attacks and the suspension of or reduction of AED doses. Changes observed during one pregnancy cannot always predict what will happen during subsequent pregnancies.