Antiepileptic drug therapy and congenital defects

: The present paper is a literature review on congenital malformations observed in the offspring of epileptic mothers. The conditions which are here considered are both morphologic and functional defects. To prevent one or more of these defects it is essential to understand the precise etiologic role of the antiepileptic drugs, which seem to be of primary importance, and their mechanism of action, as drug therapy cannot be stopped during pregnancy being indispensable for the well-being of the mother and fetus. At this state of knowledge a proportion of defects can be prevented if optimal therapy is followed right from the preconceptional period: to this end, a set of guidelines is suggested and discussed.