1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-7-53-b 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-7-7-7 Antiepileptic Drugs Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Carbamazepine-Induced Skin Rash http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 07 1993 01 07 2016 7 7 53 54 Copyright: © 1993 The Author(s) 1993 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Carbamazepine-induced skin rash in children with epilepsy

Of 335 children who were treated with carbamazepine at the Department of Paediatrics, Toyama Medical University, Japan, 33 (10%) developed a skin rash.

 Carbamazepine Skin Rash Leucopenia

Of 335 children who were treated with carbamazepine at the Department of Paediatrics, Toyama Medical University, Japan, 33 (10%) developed a skin rash. Five had exfoliative dermatitis and 2 had Stevens-Johnson syndrome. The eleventh day of therapy was the most frequent day of onset; 88% developed the rash between 8 and 15 days. Children over 6 years of age were more susceptible to skin rash than younger patients, with frequencies of 20% and 5%, respectively. Leucopenia in 9 patients (27%), thrombocytopenia in 6 (18%), and hepatic dysfunction manifested by elevated transaminases in 9 (27%) occurred concomitantly with the skin rash. [1]

COMMENT. The frequency of skin rash with carbamazepine in this study is disturbingly high, particularly in children over 6 years of age. For additional reports, see Ped Neur Briefs Feb 1991, The introduction of dyes in the carbamazepine tablet in recent years may explain an apparent increase in reports of allergic skin reactions.

In a report from The Liverpool Hospital, New South Wales, Australia, the substitution of oxcarbazepine, a keto derivative thought to be less toxic than CBZ, caused a cross-reactive skin eruption in 3 adult patients who had previously developed exfoliative dermatitis with CBZ. [2]

 Konishi T Naganuma Y Hongo K Murakami M Yamatani M Okada T Carbamazepine-induced skin rash in children with epilepsy Eur J Pediatr 1993 Jul 152 7 605 608 10.1007/BF01954091 8354323 Beran RG Cross-reactive skin eruption with both carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine Epilepsia 1993 Jan-Feb 34 1 163 165 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1993.tb02392.x 8422852