Antiepileptic Drugs and Pregnancy

Frank JE Vajda was trained in Melbourne and London.  He is Past President of the Epilepsy Society of Australia, Founder of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Clinical Neuropharmacology,Founder and Director of the AustralianPregnancy Register, Member of the Central Project Commission of EURAP and Professorial Fellow, Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne. Previously, he was Professor of Clinical Neuropharmacology at Monash University.Mervyn Eadie is currently Emeritus Professor of Clinical Neurology and Neuropharmacology in the University of Queensland and Honorary Consultant Neurologist to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. He was formerly Chairman of the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee. His main research interests in recent years have been in the clinical pharmacology of drugs used for treating neurological disease and in the histories of epilepsy and migraine.

• 1. Introduction.- 2. Antiepileptic drugs and becoming pregnant.- Part I. Antiepileptic Drug Pharmacokinetics in Pregnancy.- 3. Antiepileptic drug disposition and pregnancy.- 4. The older antiepileptic drugs.- 5. Commonly used newer antiepileptic drugs.- 6. Antiepileptic drugs sometimes used in pregnancy.- Part II. Antiepileptic Drugs and the Foetus.- 7. Antiepileptic drugs, epileptic seizures and the foetus.- 8. Antiepileptic drugs and foetal malformations - a possible class effect.- 9. Particular antiepileptic drugs and foetal malformations.- 10. Antiepileptic drugs, cognition and neurodevelopment.- Part III. Antiepileptic Drug use and Pregnancy.- 11. Antiepileptic drug therapy: management issues and pregnancy.- 12. Antiepileptic drugs and pregnancy – the future.