Transient brain magnetic resonance imaging hyperintensity in basal ganglia and brain stem of epileptic infants treated with vigabatrin.
Vigabatrin is an antiepileptic drug that produces intramyelinic edema in several animal models. This study investigates the effect of vigabatrin on the developing human brain. The authors retrospectively blindly review 34 brain magnetic resonance imaging of 22 epileptic infants (age: 9 +/- 1 months) that received vigabatrin, focusing on the presence of hyperintensity on T2- and diffusion-weighted images. Patients treated with vigabatrin displayed significant magnetic resonance imaging hyperintensity of basal ganglia and brain stem (P < .001, Wilcoxon test). This hyperintensity was transient and maximal 3 to 6 months after the beginning of vigabatrin. Hyperintensity was independent from duration and type of epilepsy, and from the presence or absence of seizures. The authors conclude that vigabatrin treatment is associated with transient hypersignal of the basal ganglia and brain stem in epileptic infants. Such transient hyperintensity is likely to be age-dependent and time-dependent because it has never been observed in adult patients.
Milh
Mathieu
M
Department of Paediatric Neurology, Hôpital Timone-Enfants, Marseille, France. mathieu.milh@ap-hm.fr
Villeneuve
Nathalie
N
Chapon
Fréderique
F
Pineau
Sandrine
S
Lamoureux
Sylvie
S
Livet
Marie-Odile
MO
Bartoli
Céline
C
Hugonenq
Catherine
C
Mancini
Josette
J
Chabrol
Brigitte
B
Girard
Nadine
N
D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020888:Vigabatrin / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D000927:Anticonvulsants; D020888:Vigabatrin