Effectiveness of lamotrigine in children and adolescents with conduct disorders | Ukrainian Medical Journal

Lamotrigine is an antiepileptic drug with normotimic activity, recommended in pediatric practice for monotherapy and polytyrapy of epilepsy with partial, generalized seizures, including tonic-clonic and associated with Lennox — Gastaut syndrome, for the treatment and prevention of bipolar depression. Besides of official indications, lamotrigine is often used to treat behavioral disorders such as irritability, impulsivity, anger with auto-aggressive and destructive behavior. The article discusses the results of controlled studies of the use of lamotrigine in behavioral disorders through the prism of their typology: polymorphism of clinical manifestations in epilepsy, epileptic encephalopathies, pervasive developmental disorders (autism spectrum disorders), in emotional dysregulation in bipolar, hyperkinetic (attention deficit) and hyperactivity disorders, organic dysontogenesis, with borderline personality disorder, with some variants of genetic polymorphism. Further research is needed to develop recommendations regarding the differentiated use of lamotrigine and other antiepileptic drugs (carbamazepine, valproic acid) for behavioral disorders of epileptic origin, lamotrigine and atypical antipsychotics (risperidone, aripiprazole, quetiapine) in pervasive developmental disorders, lamotrigine and psychostimulants (methylphenidate) in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, lamotrigine and mood stabilizers (lithium, valproic acid, quetiapine) in phase mood dysregulation, bipolar depression. The advantage of lamotrigine in comparison with other drugs is its low toxicity and good tolerance, high patient compliance with this antiepileptic drug.

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