ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS FOR THE TREATMENT OF EPILEPSY AND EPILEPTICS SYNDROMS OF CHILDHOOD

E. Paučić-Kirinčić, I. Prpić, A. Sasso, M. Gazdik, Z. Modrušan-Mozetič, V. Vlahović-Palčevski

Primary treatment of epilepsy and epileptic syndromes of childhood is pharmacological. Based on the current basic and clinical research on the field of epilepsy there is no particular antiepileptic drug (AED) effective in seizure prevention for all types of epilepsy. In the past decade there were introduced several new antiepileptic drugs worldwide, so coll fourth generation of (of anticonvulsant drugs. In our country three of them are approved for clinical use - Lamotrigine (LTG), vigabatrine (VGB) and topiramate (TPM). Due to prolonged usage and clinical experience with new AED it became more evident that they have possible neuroprotection activity, which distinct them from standard AED. The first step in choosing AED is defining the type of epilepsy/generalized or partial. The initial choice of optimal AED if often guided by the individual patient profile and adverse-drug reaction profile of the drug, and acceptation of new knowledge in the field of Epileptology. The availability of next AED has widened our choice of pharmacological treatment of epilepsy and led to better seizure control and quality of life from many individual patients.