Use Of Medicines For Epilepsy During Pregnancy Can Cause A Risk To The Child

Use Of Medicines For Epilepsy During Pregnancy Can Cause A Risk To The Child.
Pregnant women with epilepsy who are taking carbamazepine (Tegretol) to govern seizures may be at a marginally increased endanger of having an infant with spina bifida, a redesigned study finds. Spina bifida is a condition in which the bones of the spine do not close but the spinal rope remains in place, usually with skin covering the defect buy vitolax online with paypal. Most children will need lifelong healing for problems arising from damage to the spinal cord and spinal nerves.

And "For women with epilepsy, impounding control during pregnancy is very important," said lead researcher Lolkje de Jong-van den Berg, from the separation of pharmacy at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. "Our swat can help in decisions regarding whether carbamazepine should be the drug of choice in pregnancy" medicine to increase penis size in adrian. However, the best option anent treatment can be chosen only on an individual basis by the woman and her neurologist before pregnancy, weighing the benefits of epilepsy mechanism against the risk of birth defects, de Jong-van den Berg said.

The narrative is published in the Dec 3, 2010 online edition of the BMJ. For the study, de Jong-van den Berg's band reviewed existing research to determine the risk of confinement defects among women taking Tegretol. The researchers found that infants of women taking Tegretol were 2,6 times more expected to have spina bifida, compared with women not taking any anti-epileptic medication.

However, the risk associated with Tegretol was less than with another anti-epileptic drug- valproic acid (Depakene). In fact, Tegretol was less precarious than valproic acid when it came to other extraction defects such as hypospadias, where a boy's urinary opening develops in the off target part of the penis or in the scrotum. "Carbamazepine is specifically related to an increased risk of spina bifida," de Jong-van den Berg said. "But you have to room and board in mind that the absolute hazard is small".

For Tegretol taken in the first trimester, the overall risk of a major malformation was 3,3 percent, the weigh authors reported. The same group of researchers found in another study, published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine, that women taking valproic acid were six times more qualified to have an infant with spina bifida and seven times more conceivable have an infant with hypospadias, compared with women using other anti-epileptic drugs.

The researchers grant with a recommendation from the American Academy of Neurology that valproic acid should be avoided in pregnancy if possible. Dr Orrin Devinsky, number one of the Epilepsy Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, said that "for women of childbearing age, these drugs delineate a risk".

Women neediness to balance the risk and benefit of these drugs. Women with epilepsy need to stay on an anti-epileptic treatment while they are pregnant. "The risk of seizure to themselves and potentially to their fetus is greater than the risk of anti-epileptic drugs".

There are choice drugs, specifically lamotrigine (Lamictal) and levetiracetam (Keppra). However, there is spoonful data on any dangers associated with these drugs during pregnancy. Another expert, Dr Kimford Meador, a professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, said women penury to distinguish the risks associated with Tegretol helpful hints. "If a woman is of childbearing potential and you are prescribing this drug, that's when the discussion needs to occur".