Effectiveness and Tolerability of Rufinamide in Korean Children with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome.

Min,  Soyoon; Jo,  Taekyoung; Suh,  Hyorim; Roh,  Daeun; Hwang,  Su Kyeoung; Lee,  Yunjeong; Kwon,  Soonhak

doi:2017.25.2.89

Ann Child Neurol > Volume 25(2); 2017 > Article

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Child Neurology Society 2017;25(2):89-92.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26815/jkcns.2017.25.2.89 Published online June 30, 2017.

Effectiveness and Tolerability of Rufinamide in Korean Children with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome.

Soyoon Min, Taekyoung Jo, Hyorim Suh, Daeun Roh, Su Kyeoung Hwang, Yunjeong Lee, Soonhak Kwon

Department of Pediatrics, Kyungpook National University Children's hospital & School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. shkwon@knu.ac.kr

Abstract

PURPOSE
Rufinamide (RFM) is known to be effective for children with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS). The aim of this study is to evaluate its efficacy and tolerability of Korean children with LGS. METHODS: This is a single center, open label, retrospective study. Patients with LGS who received rufinamide as adjunctive therapy were enrolled in this study. Their baseline clinical characteristics, the percent change in the seizure frequency per 4 weeks, and adverse events were evaluated. RESULTS: Among 32 children, 20 were males and the mean age was 11.3±6.6 years. After 1 month of rufinamide medication, the frequency of seizures was reduced by more than 50% in 31.3% of patients and 6.3% of patients had no seizures. After 6 months of rufinamide administration, patients with a 50% or less decrease in seizure frequency remained in a state of reduced seizure frequency and 3.1% of patients had no seizures. Side effects such as nausea, vomiting, anorexia, less active, somnolence, aggression, drooling were noted in 28.1% of patients. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that rufinamide can be considered as an effective and safe treatment option for intractable epileptic children such as LGS.

Key Words: Rufinamide, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Children, Epilepsy