Monotherapy in epilepsy: role of the newer antiepileptic drugs.
BACKGROUND
Monotherapy is the goal for pharmacological treatment of epilepsy. Well-controlled trials have established the efficacy of some of the newer antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) as monotherapy.


OBJECTIVE
To review clinical data and expert opinions pertinent to the evaluation of most of the newer AEDs as monotherapy for epilepsy.


METHODS
The MEDLINE database was searched for clinical trials using newer AEDs. Reference sections of review articles were manually searched to identify relevant studies not retrieved in MEDLINE.


METHODS
The resulting list of references was manually reviewed to identify monotherapy studies.


RESULTS
Lamotrigine and oxcarbazepine demonstrated efficacy in randomized active-control trials in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy and in substitution trials in patients refractory to conventional AEDs.


CONCLUSIONS
Lamotrigine and oxcarbazepine are as effective as conventional AEDs at controlling partial seizures and are better tolerated.
Vazquez
Blanca
B
Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, NYU School of Medicine, 403 East 34th Street, New York, NY10016-4998, USA. blancavs@netscape.net
D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D000077213:Lamotrigine; D000078330:Oxcarbazepine; D014227:Triazines / Q000008:administration & dosage
D000927:Anticonvulsants; D014227:Triazines; D002220:Carbamazepine; D000077213:Lamotrigine; D000078330:Oxcarbazepine