Effect of Oxcarbazepine on Language Function in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Epilepsy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the effects of oxcarbazepine (OXC) on the language function of patients with pediatric epilepsy. METHODS: We assessed the language abilities of patients aged 5–17 years with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy and the same number of age-matched healthy children using the Test of Problem Solving (TOPS) and the Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test–Receptive (REVT-R). The Mean Length of Utterance–words (MLU-w) was used to estimate linguistic productivity before and after OXC initiation. All patients received OXC monotherapy with a starting dosage of 10 mg/kg/day for 1 week, which in some cases was increased to 30 mg/kg/day (or 1,200 mg/day). RESULTS: The study finally included 41 pediatric patients (22 males and 19 females; age 9.9±3.0 years, mean±standard deviation). All language parameters of the TOPS improved significantly after initiating OXC (determining cause, 12.5±4.8–13.7±4.1 [p=0.016]; making inference, 15.6±5.6–17.4±6.4 [p<0.001]; and predicting, 9.8±5.0–11.6±4.5 [p=0.001]). However, patients who received OXC did not exhibit a significantly extended MLU-w (determining cause, p=0.493; making inference, p=0.386; and predicting, p=0.341). Receptive language scores also significantly increased after taking OXC (REVT-R: 121.0±43.1–129.4±43.8, p=0.002), but the percentage of development age to chronological age did not vary (REVT-developmental quotient: p=0.075). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that OXC is safe and preserves language function in patients with pediatric epilepsy.