Vigabatrin in childhood epilepsy: a 5-year follow-up study

In an retrospective uncontrolled long-term study in 30 children with intractable epilepsy, it was found that treatment with vigabatrin resulted in a seizure reduction of more than 50% at 1-year follow-up in 40% of the children. The responders were all children with partial seizures. Side effects were mild and did not lead to discontinuation of the drug. Increased numbers of seizures were seen in three cases. A moderate weight increase was seen in 27% of the children. At 5-year follow-up 7 children (23%) still maintained a seizure reduction of more than 50%. Trials of monotherapy in three seizure-free patients were unsuccessful. No further side effects were observed. A study of evoked potentials in 12 children showed no alteration in latency and amplitudes of VEP following treatment with vigabatrin. Our results show that in children vigabatrin seems to have a stable effect even though a few children may experience a breakthrough of seizures. The presented results together with previous reports on MRI-scans seem to indicate that even in children with a still maturing CNS vigabatrin is a safe drug.