[The course of pregnancy and labor in patients with epilepsy]

Abstract

For a 10-year period we studied the effects of epilepsy on the course of pregnancy, delivery, and perinatal complications among 27 women with epilepsy; 70.37% had epilepsy for 10 years. Before pregnancy, 74.08% of the patients had grand mal seizure. During pregnancy, grand mal characteristics were observed in 14.18% of patients, which mandated better titration of AED therapy. Two thirds of the pregnant women received therapy with carmabazepins and valproate. Delivery was normal in 81.48%, by forceps in 7.41% due to fetal distress, and by cesarean section in 11.11%. In only 1 patient was epilepsy the primary indication for cesarean section. In all cases, perinatal outcome was good and no fetal malformations were noted. We conclude that epilepsy does not lead to any significant complications during pregnancy and delivery except in those with tonic-clonic characteristics, which are difficult to control conservatively.