OBJECTIVE To compare adrenocorticotropic hormone with vigabatrin as a single mono-therapy for infantile spasms. We studied hospitalization time, clinical response, whether complete or partial, time taken for improvement, and presence or absence of recurrence after stopping the medication. Together with improvement of electroencephalographic changes, and time taken for significant response, neur...

While vigabatrin-associated visual field constrictions have been generally considered irreversible, some case reports have raised the hope of partial improvement after drug withdrawal in occasional patients. Here we describe seven children with epilepsy, whose visual field constrictions, as demonstrated by the kinetic perimetry (Goldmann), attenuated or recovered after discontinuation of vigaba...

A pharmaco-economic study of the administration of adjunctive therapy in patients with chronic epilepsy is described. A decision-analytic model has been used, which represents the consequences of treatment over a 1-year time period, when one of three drugs is used first. The cost-effectiveness ratio for clobazam, lamotrigine and vigabatrin have been calculated. The expected cost per patient of ...

In a patient with cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome complicated by intractable infantile spasms (West syndrome), cardiac hypertrophy developed during adrenocorticotropic hormone treatment. Various types of antiepileptic drugs, intravenous immunoglobulin, thyrotropin releasing hormone, and a ketogenic diet were ineffective in this case. However, vigabatrin both decreased clinical seizures and improv...

Epileptic patients experienced an irreversible loss of their peripheral visual field upon treatment with vigabatrin (gamma-vinyl GABA), an inhibitor of the GABA degrading enzyme, GABA transaminase. Subsequently, central visual function was reported to also be irreversibly altered. This visual loss is associated with a decrease in the electroretinogram measurement localizing the deficit to the r...

BACKGROUND Chemical stimulation of white adipose tissue (WAT) induces adipose afferent reflex (AAR), and thereby causes a general sympathetic activation. Paraventricular nucleus (PVN) is important in control of sympathetic outflow. This study was designed to investigate the role of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in PVN in regulating the AAR. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Experiments were carried...

Long-term administration of antiepileptic drugs may be connected with the risk of impairment of bone remodeling. Contrary to the reported unfavorable effect of classic antiepileptic drugs on bone metabolism, little is known about the effect of the next generation antiepileptics on bone remodeling. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of vigabatrin, as a representative of n...