http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—The effects of antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy have long been a concern of clinicians and women of childbearing age whose seizures can only be controlled by medications. In 1999, a study called the Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (NEAD) began following the children of women who were taking a single antiepileptic agent during pregnancy. The drugs included carbamazepine, lamotrigine, phenytoin or valproate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-fetal-exposure-antiepileptic-drug-valproate.html Neuroscience Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:18:02 EST news282982655 Children whose mothers take the antiepileptic drug sodium valproate while pregnant are at significantly increased risk of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, suggests a small study published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-exposure-antiepileptic-drug-womb-linked.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 30 Jan 2013 18:30:01 EST news278789774 The drug perampanel (trade name Fycompa) has been approved since July 2012 as adjunctive ("add-on") therapy for adults and children aged 12 years and older with epileptic fits (seizures). In an early benefit assessment according to the German Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether perampanel offers an added benefit over the previous standard therapy. However, no such added benefit can be derived from the dossier, because the manufacturer failed to present any relevant data in it for the comparison with the drugs lamotrigine or topiramate. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-perampanel-epilepsy-proof-added-benefit.html Medications Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:38:36 EST news278761110 Research published today in the Lancet Neurology shows that taking the antiepileptic drug valproate during pregnancy affects the IQ of children up to the age of six. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-reveals-long-term-effects-child-iq.html Medications Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:30:02 EST news278098291 A brain study in infant rats demonstrates that the anti-epilepsy drug phenobarbital stunts neuronal growth, which could prompt new questions about using the first-line drug to treat epilepsy in human newborns. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-anti-epilepsy-drugs-newborns.html Neuroscience Fri, 11 May 2012 11:36:14 EST news255954965 A combination of two common drugs, lamotrigine and valproate, is more effective in treating difficult-to control epilepsy than other anti-epileptic regimens, according to a University of Washington report to be published online this week in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-superior-drug-combo-difficult-to-control-epilepsy.html Neuroscience Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:20:12 EST news243102003 For the first time, a new research methodology recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration has been used to demonstrate that converting patients from one anti-epileptic drug to another - in this case, lamotrigine extended-release (LTG XR) - is well-tolerated, effective and safe. The work by Jacqueline French and her team, from New York University in the US, illustrates how the new methodology addresses ethical issues inherent in more traditional study designs. It is published online in Springer's journal, Neurotherapeutics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-ethical-epilepsy-treatments.html Neuroscience Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:19:48 EST news242313386 Use of newer-generation antiepileptic drugs, which are also prescribed for bipolar mood disorders and migraine headaches, during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with an increased risk of major birth defects in the first year of life among infants in Denmark, according to a study in the May 18 issue of JAMA. Older-generation antiepileptic drugs are associated with an increased risk of birth defects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-prenatal-antiepileptic-drugs-major-birth.html Health Tue, 17 May 2011 16:58:24 EST news224870293