DISCONTINUATION OF PHENOBARBITAL IN CHILDREN - EFFECTS ON NEUROCOGNITIVE BEHAVIOR

Neurocognitive performances were evaluated in 9 children with differen t types of epilepsy prior to and at least 6 months after discontinuati on of phenobarbital. The patients treated with phenobarbital monothera py were seizure free for at least 2 years, without electro-encephalogr aphic anomalies for at least 1 year, Results indicated that phenobarbi tal at low therapeutic doses causes attentional and memory deficits, r eversible after therapy discontinuation. Further research utilizing th e same design is needed on larger samples in order to confirm our resu lts.