A new rapid titration protocol for lamotrigine that reduces the risk of
skin rash
Abstract
Aims Lamotrigine is one of the most widely used antiepileptic drugs, but
it has a critical issue of a skin rash if the starting dose is too high
or the escalation rate is too rapid. We investigated the efficacy and
safety of a novel and rapid titration protocol for lamotrigine that
takes only 11 days to reach a daily dose of 200 mg. Methods We
prospectively enrolled 33 adult patients (age 18-85) who were diagnosed
with epilepsy and started lamotrigine administration for the first time
at a single tertiary hospital. Our new protocol starts with a
subthreshold dose of the drug and then administer a stepwise-incremental
dose until reaching the full therapeutic dose within 11 days. Results Of
29 patients analyzed, only two (6.9%) experienced idiosyncratic skin
rash before the first follow-up visit at 2 weeks (±3 days). In addition,
a therapeutic concentration was reached in more than 75% of studied
patients after 2 weeks of lamotrigine administration Conclusion These
findings demonstrate the value of the novel tolerance induction protocol
for lamotrigine, which could widen the available application of
lamotrigine in various situations.