ObjectiveTo investigate the long-term retention rate of Oxcabazepine (OXC) in Chinese young children with symptomatic epilepsy and to evaluate the withdrawal causes of OXC. MethodsClinical features of 89 cases (male/female:48/41) from January.2009 to June.2015 were collected. Patients with symptomatic epilepsy who received mono-or adjunctive therapy with OXC. The initial dose was 10mg/kg/d twice a daily, 3~4weeks to increased to the target dose. OXC doses ranged between 12~53 mg/(kg·d) (mean dose:34.0±8.59 mg/(kg·d). An investigator recorded the antiepileptic drugs, seizure frequency, electroencephalogram and side effects for 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36months during follow-up. ResultsA total of 89 patients were enrolled in this investigation. patients with 50% reduction in seizure frequency in 6, 12, 24 and 36 months were 56.5%, 55.3%, 44.7%, 24.7%, and with seizure-free were 36.5%, 34.1%, 29.4%, 16.5%. In this research, 16(18.0%) patients experienced at least one side effect. The most common side effects observed were drowsiness 8 (42.1%), rash 3 (15.8%), and most were mild in severity. The retention rate of OXC in 3, 6, 12, 24, and 36months were 95.5%, 87.6%, 75.3%, 56.2%, 25.8%, respectively. The predominant causes of withdrawal were lack of efficacy 36(54.5%), end point 10(15.2%), adverse effects 8(12.1%), seizure-free 5(7.6%), follow-up loss 3(4.5%). COX analysis reveals that the age of onset was associated with treatment failure. ConclusionOur study demonstrates that OXC is safe and well tolerated in infants and very young children with symptomatic epilepsy, but the long-term retention rate is low. Whereas, for the purpose of better retention rate and therapeutic benefits, we should treat discretely depending on the complicated etiology and clinical features.