A 43-year-old woman with a history of depression, which was being treated with oxcarbazepine twice a day (300 mg/morning and 450 mg/evening), was started on lamotrigine 2 weeks prior to her presentation, with the dose increased to 50 mg/day just prior to admission.Two weeks after starting the lamotrigine, she developed nausea and a generalized pruritic macular rash. She sought treatment in
ABSTRACTIntroduction: Anticonvulsant hypersensitivity syndrome is a severe idiosyncratic reaction to antiepileptic drugs. We report a case of a woman with lamotrigine-associated hepatitis who recovered spontaneously with supportive treatment.Case Report: A 43-year-old woman was being treated with oxcarbazepine for depression and was started on lamotrigine 2 weeks prior to her presentation. The patient then developed nausea and a generalized pruritic macular rash, and was found to have elevated liver enzymes, which peaked at AST, 6079 IU/L; ALT, 6900 IU/L; total bilirubin, 3.9 mg/dL(66.7 mol/L); alkaline phosphatase, 149 IU/L; international normalized ration (INR), 1.9. The patient showed no signs of encephalopathy and her clinical examination was essentially normal except for very mild jaundice and a diffuse erythematous pruritic macular rash. The patient was hydrated and managed with supportive care. On the third day of hospitalization, her liver enzymes had improved substantially and she was discharged. At follow-up 1 month later the patient's liver enzymes were within the normal range.Discussion: We hypothesize that lamotrigine was directly responsible for the patient's rash and liver impairment given the time sequence of drug introduction and resolution of symptoms and liver enzyme abnormality once the drug was withdrawn. The patient suffered severe transaminitis when lamotrigine was added to oxcarbazepine, which resolved after termination of the medication and supportive management. We recommend monitoring the hepatic function in patients who have just been initiated on lamotrigine, especially if they develop jaundice.
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