Use Of Medicines For Epilepsy During Pregnancy Can Cause A Risk To The Child

Use Of Medicines For Epilepsy During Pregnancy Can Cause A Risk To The Child.
Pregnant women with epilepsy who are taking carbamazepine (Tegretol) to restrain seizures may be at a slight increased hazard of having an infant with spina bifida, a redone study finds. Spina bifida is a condition in which the bones of the spine do not close but the spinal rope remains in place, usually with skin covering the defect. Most children will need lifelong remedying for problems arising from damage to the spinal cord and spinal nerves.

And "For women with epilepsy, seizing control during pregnancy is very important," said lead researcher Lolkje de Jong-van den Berg, from the disunity of pharmacy at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. "Our learn can help in decisions regarding whether carbamazepine should be the drug of choice in pregnancy". However, the best option with respect to treatment can be chosen only on an individual basis by the woman and her neurologist before pregnancy, weighing the benefits of epilepsy dial against the risk of birth defects, de Jong-van den Berg said.

The circulate is published in the Dec 3, 2010 online edition of the BMJ. For the study, de Jong-van den Berg's tandem reviewed existing research to determine the risk of start defects among women taking Tegretol. The researchers found that infants of women taking Tegretol were 2,6 times more like as not to have spina bifida, compared with women not taking any anti-epileptic medication.

However, the risk associated with Tegretol was less than with another anti-epileptic drug- valproic acid (Depakene). In fact, Tegretol was less chancy than valproic acid when it came to other nativity defects such as hypospadias, where a boy's urinary opening develops in the ill-considered part of the penis or in the scrotum. "Carbamazepine is specifically related to an increased risk of spina bifida," de Jong-van den Berg said. "But you have to nurture in mind that the absolute chance is small".

For Tegretol taken in the first trimester, the overall risk of a major malformation was 3,3 percent, the muse about authors reported. The same group of researchers found in another study, published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine, that women taking valproic acid were six times more promising to have an infant with spina bifida and seven times more apt to have an infant with hypospadias, compared with women using other anti-epileptic drugs.

The researchers allow with a recommendation from the American Academy of Neurology that valproic acid should be avoided in pregnancy if possible. Dr Orrin Devinsky, commandant of the Epilepsy Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, said that "for women of childbearing age, these drugs note a risk".

Women miss to balance the risk and benefit of these drugs. Women with epilepsy need to stay on an anti-epileptic dose while they are pregnant. "The risk of seizure to themselves and potentially to their fetus is greater than the risk of anti-epileptic drugs".

There are option drugs, specifically lamotrigine (Lamictal) and levetiracetam (Keppra). However, there is meagre data on any dangers associated with these drugs during pregnancy. Another expert, Dr Kimford Meador, a professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, said women distress to separate the risks associated with Tegretol best vito. "If a woman is of childbearing potential and you are prescribing this drug, that's when the discourse needs to occur".