Abstracts

RATIONALE: To identify the characteristics of patients maintained on lamotrigine (LTG) monotherapy for a minimum of six months. METHODS: Retrospective chart review revealed 40 patients on LTG monotherapy, 33 of whom had been treated for 6 months or more. RESULTS: LTG monotherapy was used to treat patients with a wide range of seizure types and epileptic syndromes. These included: generalized tonic clonic seizures (9), juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (2), simple partial seizures (3), complex partial seizures (15), complex partial seizures with secondary generalization (4). The majority of patients were adults, but ages ranged from 9-68 years. Three patients were younger than 20, 12 patients were between 20-40, and 18 patients were older than 40. All but 2 patients had been tried on other AED monotherapy and, in many cases, various combinations of AEDs. Exposures ranged from 1-6 previous AEDs, with a mean of 3.1 other AEDs having been tried. Thirteen patients were switched due to side effects of medications (Group I), 9 because of ineffectiveness of previous medications (Group II), and 9 due to a combination of the above reasons (Group III). Two patients were started on LTG as their first medication. Of the patients studied, 19/33 (57%) have been seizure-free since initiating monotherapy. This result includes 12/13 in Group I, 3/9 in Group II, and 2/8 in Group III. Greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency was attained in 8/33 patients including the 1 remaining patient in Group I, 5/9 in Group II, and 3/8 in Group III. The remaining 6 patients had no substantial change in seizure frequency. CONCLUSIONS: LTG monotherapy is an effective treatment alternative for a wide range of seizure types and should be considered for use when other AEDs have been ineffective or not tolerated.