Exacerbation of antiepileptic drug induced epilepsies

Abstract

Exacerbation of epilepsy paradoxically induced by antiepileptic drugs is a clinical complication that has been reported in recent years and in which four pathogenic mechanisms can be involved: poisoning, inadequate choice of the drug, encephalopathy or the paradoxical effects by itself. In order to describe the clinical cases of 3 children in whom carbamazepine induced a significant exacerbation, the data reported up to now in the literature in relation to the antiepileptic drugs and to the types of seizures involved in these situations of paradoxical clinical exacerbation are reviewed in an attempt to know and recognize them and to not confuse them with the natural evolution of the disease.