Zdravniški Vestnik (Jun 2006)
Modern medicamentous treatment of epilepsy in adults
Abstract
Background: Several »newer« antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), i.e. vigabatrin, lamotrigine, gabapentin, topiramate, tiagabine, oxcarbazepine, levetiracetam, pregabalin and zonisamide have been introduced into clinical practice within the last decade. Most of these new drugs are at least as effective as the »older« AEDs (phenobarbital, phenytoin, valproic acid, carbamazepine) and in general, they seem to be better tolerated then the older drugs and have less side effects. The development of pharmaceutical industry has brought several new AEDs to clinical practice which increased a probability of therapeutic success, but also made treatment more complex. It is expected from the physician that she will know indications and contraindications for at least 15 AEDs, their optimal titration, dosage, possible side effects and wide spectrum of interactions with other drugs. At this point advertisements of drug companies try to convince us aggressively about success of their own products.Conclusions: This review article focuses on modern medicamentous treatment of adults with epilepsy, main characteristics of newer AEDs, conditions, availability and statistics of their usage in Slovenia.
