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 mastery seizures may be at a somewhat increased jeopardy of having an infant with spina bifida, a green exploration finds. Spina bifida is a adapt in which the bones of the spine do not close but the spinal line remains in place, usually with skin covering the defect problems. Most children will impecuniousness lifelong treatment for problems arising from disfigure to the spinal cord and spinal nerves.

And "For women with epilepsy, annexation control during pregnancy is very important," said tip-off researcher Lolkje de Jong-van den Berg, from the conflict of pharmacy at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. "Our analysis can help in decisions regarding whether carbamazepine should be the drug of choice in pregnancy" ling wardhak japani oil. However, the best opportunity regarding treatment can be chosen only on an individual point of departure by the woman and her neurologist before pregnancy, weighing the benefits of epilepsy be in control against the risk of birth defects, de Jong-van den Berg said.

The put out is published in the Dec 3, 2010 online copy of the BMJ. For the study, de Jong-van den Berg's tandem reviewed existing inquiry to determine the risk of birth defects among women taking Tegretol. The researchers found that infants of women taking Tegretol were 2,6 times more odds-on to have spina bifida, compared with women not taking any anti-epileptic medication.

However, the chance associated with Tegretol was less than with another anti-epileptic drug- valproic acid (Depakene). In fact, Tegretol was less iffy than valproic acid when it came to other extraction defects such as hypospadias, where a boy's urinary vernissage develops in the naughty part of the penis or in the scrotum. "Carbamazepine is specifically interconnected to an increased risk of spina bifida," de Jong-van den Berg said. "But you have to sustenance in watch over that the absolute risk is small".