title: Oxcarbazepine in the treatment of childhood epilepsy.
abstract: In this study, oxcarbazepine was began as monotherapy to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the drug. Forty-two patients (19 females, 23 males) with partial or generalized epilepsy more than 4 years of age were included (mean age, 11.9 +/- 3.4 years). The mean age at epilepsy onset 8.9 +/- 4 years. Complete blood count, liver function tests, electrolytes, lipid levels, electrocardiography, electroencephalography, and magnetic resonance imaging were performed in all patients. Oxcarbazepine dose was begun at 10 mg/kg/day twice daily and increased to 30 mg/kg/day at the end of the second week. Patients with inadequate seizure control even with the dose of 45 mg/kg/day or intolerable side effects were excluded. Intolerable headache and leukopenia led to discontinuation of the drug in two patients. At the sixth month, 35 of the patients (87.5%) were seizure free (91.7% of the generalized epilepsy patients and 81.2% of the partial epilepsy patients). The most frequent tolerable side effect was drowsiness in 12 patients. As a result, we found oxcarbazepine safe and effective in children with either generalized or partial epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Neurology, Ege University Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gul
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Serdaroglu
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurul
authors.forename: Sarenur
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tutuncuoglu
authors.forename: Eray
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dirik
authors.forename: Berrak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sarioglu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004829:Epilepsy, Generalized / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000078330:Oxcarbazepine; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D002220:Carbamazepine; D000078330:Oxcarbazepine