Antiepileptic drugs as a cause of seizures or seizure worsening in children

The phenomenon of seizures aggravated by antiepileptic drugs is frequently overlooked by physicians. It should be considered a side effect of antiepileptics, especially in epileptic cases treated with multiple antiepileptics [polytherapy] and in cases of intractable epilepsy. In this report, we discuss this phenomenon after demonstrating its occurrence in four cases in different clinical settings. A child presented with status epilepticus as a complication of acute intoxication with carbamazepine. Another child who after starting treatment with carbamazepine developed myoclonic seizures, as a new type of seizure which disappeared after stopping carbamazepine; these myoclonic seizures represent a paradoxical reaction to carbamazepine. A third child who was treated for absence epilepsy with carbamazepine developed worsening of the seizures. This re p resents an inappropriate choice of antiepileptic drug for this type of seizure. A fourth epileptic child while on polytherapy with usual doses of sodium valproate and lamotrigine unexpectedly developed frequent prolonged absences and encephalopathy; he reverted to his base line state with dose reduction of both drugs. It is important to recognize this phenomenon, as it will help in reducing morbidity in epileptics by early and appropriate intervention

Moyamoya Disease in a Kuwaiti child

To present the first case of Moyamoya disease in a child in Kuwait. Neurology Department, Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital, Kuwait. A four-year-old Kuwaiti girl is described with recurrent bilateral hemispheric strokes associated with non-prolonged epileptic seizures. Magnetic resonance angiography findings were typical of Moyamoya disease. Medical conditions that could be associated with Moyamoya or recurrent stroke were excluded. She had successful revascularization procedure, encephalomyosynangiosis, after which there were no recurrent strokes over nine months of follow-up