[Epilepsy and pregnancy. Risks and benefits of anticonvulsant treatment]

Abstract

Epilepsy is the most frequent neurological disorder during pregnancy. Potential adverse actions of anticonvulsant drugs of fetal development are one of the main concerns of practitioners. In this paper we investigated the pregnancy complications and teratogenic effects of several anticonvulsant agents in 50 epileptic women and their newborns delivered at "Dr. Manuel Gea González" SSA General Hospital, among 1989 and 1992. A large number of these patients (78%) were treated with carbamazepine or phenytoin and 10% needed combined anticonvulsant therapy. Most had a normal vaginal delivery (76%) and only in 3 cases (6%) minor birth defects were observed. These anomalies included distal digital hypoplasia and ear flap abnormalities. Our results suggest that anticonvulsant drugs induce a few maternal and obstetric complications and have a moderate teratogenic risk, particularly seizures can be controlled by using a single antiepileptic drug.