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Vigabatrin
- indication:For use as an adjunctive treatment (with other drugs) in treatment resistant epilepsy, complex partial seizures, secondary generalized seizures, and for monotherapy use in infantile spasms in West syndrome.
- pharmacologypharmacology:
- mechanism: It is believed that vigabatrin increases brain concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the CNS, by irreversibly inhibiting enzymes that catabolize GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid transaminase GABA-T) or block the reuptake of GABA into glia and nerve endings. Vigabatrin may also work by suppressing repetitive neuronal firing through inhibition of voltage-sensitive sodium channels.
- toxicity:
- absorprion: Rapidly absorbed following oral administration. Food may slightly decrease the rate, but not the extent, of absorption.
- halflife: 5-8 hours in young adults, 12-13 hours in elderly.
- roouteelimination: Vigabatrin is not significantly metabolized; it is eliminated primarily through renal excretion.
- volumedistribution: * 1.1 L/kg
- clearance: * 2.4 +/- 0.8 L/h [Infant] * 5.7 +/- 2.5 L/h [Children]