[Vigabatrin administration for infants and young children with intractable generalized epilepsy].

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of vigabatrin (VGB) for intractable generalized epilepsy in infants and young children.

Methods

We retrospectively examined the data of 12 patients who received VGB at our department. There were eight patients with West syndrome, two with early-infantile epileptic encephalopathy, one with symptomatic generalized epilepsy, and one with early myoclonic encephalopathy.

Results

All patients had drug-resistant epilepsy and received at least three antiepileptic drugs (range, 3-10 ; median, 5) before receiving VGB. These drugs included valproate (11 patients), nitrazepam (six patients), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH ; five patients), clonazepam (four patients), and zonisamide (four patients). VGB was effective in only one case of symptomatic West syndrome associated with tuberous sclerosis. In two cases of cryptogenic West syndrome, VGB showed transient effects.

Conclusions

VGB showed poor effectiveness for intractable generalized epilepsy in infancy and early childhood, except for West syndrome associated with tuberous sclerosis. Therefore, it is important to carefully select the cases for VGB administration.