Evaluation of Liver Enzymes Rising in Patients Treated with Sodium Valproate (VPA)

Introduction Valproic acid (VPA, Valproate) is an eightbranch fatty acid and varies from other antiepileptic drugs. VPA use might lead to mild to severe hepatotoxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate valproic acid impact on liver transaminases at the beginning of VPA treatment and after three and six months of it. Materials and Methods This study was designed as a cross sectional project in Pediatrics Neurology ward of a Tertiary Academic Hospital (Ghaem Hospital, MashhadNortheastern Iran). All children who needed valproic acid therapy alone were selected for study. Liver function test was performed for them at the beginning of VPA administration, three and six months after VPA, respectively. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 16. Results  60 children with mean age of 49±28.6 months were entered the study. 37 of them were male and 23 were female. 5% (3 children) were mental retard and 11.7% (7 patients) had neurologic or developmental deficit. Mean value of Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), Alanine Transferase (ALT) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were 27, 30.8 and 30.4 and 17.4, 20.7 and 22.8 and 425, 426 and 441 at the beginning of VPA administration, three and six months after VPA, respectively. In six months of our follow up, only one child (1.7%) had elevated liver transaminases.   Conclusion Regard to our findings and its agreement with previous researches, it is important to control adverse drug events by measuring liver transaminases during antiepilepsy treatment.