Results of the studies investigating the effects of antiepileptic drugs on auditory evoked potentials are contradictory. We, thus in this study, aimed to investigate the effects of long-term antiepileptic drug therapy on brainstem auditory evoked potentials in children with idiopathic epilepsia and to discuss its clinical importance. Fifty one children followed-up with the diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsia and receiving either valproic acid or carbamazepine for at least 6 months were enrolled in the study. The two study groups consisted of 35 patients using valproic acid (17 male and 18 female) and 16 patients using carbamazepine (7 male and 9 female). A control group including thirty three healthy children (17 male, 16 female) with a similar age and gender distribution was constituted. The age, gender, the dose and duration of treatment of the antiepileptic drug used and results of the auditory evoked potentials in all cases were recorded. Waves I, III and V, and interpeak latencies I-III and I-V of the study groups were significantly prolonged as compared with the control group (p<0.05). However, there were no significant differences among the groups with respect to wave I and interpeak latency III-V (p>0.05). In conclusion we demonstrated in this study that long-term antiepileptic drug therapy caused prolongation of auditory evoked potentials in epileptic patients. These results show that brainstem auditory evoked potentials are a sensitive and noninvasive test that may be used in demonstrating the adverse effects of long-term antiepileptic drug therapy on central nervous system.
Keywords: Antiepileptic drug, epilepsy, evoked potentials
