title: Pregabalin in childhood epilepsy: a clinical trial study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The prevalence of active epilepsy is about 0.5-1%, and approximately 70% of patients are cured with first anti-epileptic drugs and the remaining patients need multiple drugs. Pregabalin as an add-on therapy has a postive effect on refractory seizures in adults. To the best of our knowledge, there is no research with this drug in childhood epilepsy. We use pregabalin in children with refractory seizures as an add-on therapy. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of pregabalin in the reduction of seizures for refractory epilepsy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty patients with refractory seizures who were referred to Mofid Children's Hospital and Hazrat Masoumeh Hospital were selected. A questionnaire based on patient record forms, demographic data (age, gender,…), type of seizure, clinical signs, EEG record, imaging report, drugs that had been used, drugs currently being used, and the number of seizures before and after Pregabalin treatment was completed. We checked the number of seizures after one and four months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After one month, 26.8% of patients had more than a 50% reduction in seizures and 14.6% of these patients were seizure-free; 12.2% had a 25-50% reduction; and approximately 61% had less than a 25% reduction or no change in seizures. After the fourth month, 34.1% of patients had more than a 50% reduction in seizures and 24.4% of these patients were seizure-free. Additionally, 65.9% of patients had less than 50% reduction in seizures (9.8% between 25-50% and 56.1% less than 25% or without improvement).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We recommend Pregabalin as an add-on therapy for refractory seizures (except for myoclonic seizures) for children.
authors: Pediatric Neurology Department, Hazrat Fatemeh Masoumeh Hospital, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors: Mohsen
authors: M
authors: Mollamohammadi
authors: Pediatric Neurologist Research Center,Mofid Children's Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Pediatric Neurology Center of Excellence, Department of Pediatric Neurology, Mofid Children Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors: Seyed Hassan
authors: SH
authors: Tonkaboni
authors: Department of Pediatric Neurology, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
authors: Zahra
authors: Z
authors: Pirzadeh
authors: MSc in Epidemiology, Clinical Development Research Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran.
authors: Mostafa
authors: M
authors: Vahedian
keywords: Epilepsy; Pregabalin; Refractory seizures
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