LAMOTRIGINE ADD-ON THERAPY IN FOCAL EPILEPSY - ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION

The effect of lamotrigine (LTG) as add-on therapy on electroencephalog ram (EEG) background activity was studied in 11 patients with refracto ry partial seizures with or without secondary generalization. The comp uterized EEG study was performed at rest with eyes closed (EC), during blocking reaction (BR), fixation (FIX), and mental arithmetic (MA) ta sks. EEG spectral values were analyzed statistically using three-way A NOVA. The neuropsychological evaluation included a battery of six test s. Epileptic patients before LTG therapy, compared with control subjec ts, displayed at rest condition EEG changes consisting of higher delta and theta relative power coupled with lower alpha and beta power. Dur ing performance of attentive (BR) and cognitive (FIX) tasks, a decreas e in alpha reactivity associated with a decrease of beta1 and beta2 po wer was found. The addition of LTG to previous therapy induced changes , although subtle, consisting of an increase in both alpha reactivity and beta power to attentive task. Neuropsychological evaluation did no t evidence any impairment of cognitive functions. During LTG therapy, a decrease in seizure frequency occurred in 9 of the 11 patients where as no changes were observed in the remaining 2. On the basis of these neurophysiologic and neuropsychological findings, LTG as add-on therap y does not seem to produce adverse side effects on mental activity, mo reover, EEG data indicate a slight improvement in attentional processe s.