[Anticonvulsant-induced rheumatism: does a possible role of carbamazepine exist? A clinical case with a 20-month follow-up].

The rheumatism induced by anticonvulsants has been described in literature mostly because of phenobarbital therapy. The possible onset of this clinical picture due to other antiepileptic drugs is unusual and not well defined. We report the case of a 87-year-old female, affected by partial seizures treated with carbamazepine for 20 years, who came to our observation for the onset of disturbances that clearly resemble the classic syndrome of rheumatism induced by barbiturates: the diagnostic hypothesis of a drug side effect was confirmed by the marked clinical improvement of the patient after carbamazepine was stopped and substituted by gabapentin.