PURPOSE Data on the blood pharmacokinetics of vigabatrin, an antiepileptic drug with a unique and novel mechanism of action, in the rat are sparse. Additionally, little is known of the kinetics of vigabatrin in the central cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) compartment. We therefore investigated the rate of penetration into and the inter-relationship between serum and CSF compartments following systemic...

Vigabatrin is an antiepileptic drug substance mainly used in pediatric treatment of infantile spasms. The main source of nutrition for infants is breast milk and/or infant formula. Our hypothesis was that infant formula may affect the intestinal absorption of vigabatrin. The aim was therefore to investigate the potential effect of coadministration of infant formula with vigabatrin on the oral a...

AIM To study the long term changes in the concentric contraction of the visual field in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy on vigabatrin medication. METHODS Repeated Goldmann visual field examinations were compared in 27 patients with drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy and concentric contraction of the visual field. Two groups were studied: 16 patients who had already stopped vigabatrin ...

Forty five patients with refractory partial seizures were studied in a prospective, randomised, placebo controlled, add on, parallel group, double blind trial of the new antiepileptic drug vigabatrin (1.5 g twice daily) followed by open treatment. Seizure frequency was monitored throughout an eight week baseline, 20 weeks double blind, and up to 18 months of open vigabatrin treatment. Cognitive...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of visual field defects in patients taking the anticonvulsant drug vigabatrin and to characterise the features of visual dysfunction found. METHODS Thirty three unselected patients attending neurology and epilepsy clinics were identified as taking vigabatrin and asked to attend for neuro-ophthalmic evaluation. A control group of 16 patients with epilepsy u...

PURPOSE To use visual evoked potential (VEP) testing to determine whether visual deficits are present in children with a history of vigabatrin use. METHODS Contrast sensitivity and visual acuity were assessed by visual evoked potential testing and compared between 28 children (mean age, 4.90 +/- 4.92 years) with seizure disorders who had taken vigabatrin and 14 typically developing children (...

Vigabatrin is a novel antiepileptic drug, which increases GABA levels by irreversible inhibition of GABA-aminotransferase. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of vigabatrin on the anticonvulsant activity of valproate, ethosuximide and clonazepam against pentetrazole-induced seizures in mice. In addition, the effects of antiepileptic drugs alone or in combination with vigabatrin we...

AIMS To assess the visual function in epileptic patients who have received vigabatrin; to compare this with the visual function in similar epileptic patients who have never received vigabatrin; to investigate whether the severity of visual field defect (VFD) is related to the dose of vigabatrin; to consider other factors that may correlate with the severity of VFD. METHODS 21 consecutive pati...

AIMS To study the pharmacokinetics of vigabatrin in a patient affected with tuberous sclerosis who developed major agitation and aggression, while receiving vigabatrin orally (1.5 g every 12 h) and in whom impaired renal function was diagnosed. METHODS The patient received vigabatrin (0.5 g day(-1)). A pharmacokinetic study of the S(+) and R(-) enantiomers of vigabatrin was performed before a...

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder and cause of significant morbidity and mortality. Although antiseizure medication is the first-line treatment for epilepsy, currently available medications are ineffective in a significant percentage of patients and have not clearly been demonstrated to have disease-specific effects for epilepsy. While seizures are usually intractable to medication in ...