Despite an abundance of information on clinical and experimental epilepsy and on the drugs effective in its treatment, we 3rc still without a full undentanding of the inherent etiology of the epileptogenic focus and the mechanism of action of anticonvulsant drugs. In recent years allcolion has therefore been mainly directed towards the elucidation of these factors on a neuropharmacological and ...

Introduction Fixed drug eruption (FDE) is a pattern of a drug-induced skin reaction. It is characterized by skin erythematous plaques that recur at the same site each time the drug is administered. Several drugs have been associated to such cutaneous reaction, including, anticonvulsant agents, sulfonamides, non opioid analgesics and tetracyclines. Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) ...

A survey of the prescription of the novel anticonvulsants lamotrigine, vigabatrin, gabapentin and topiramate was carried out in an outpatient setting to investigate the outcome of prescription and factors affecting response. One hundred and fifty randomly selected patient notes were analysed retrospectively. Drug continuation and seizure freedom were used as measures of response. Twenty-nine pe...

The anticonvulsant topiramate not only decreases ethanol consumption in alcohol dependence (AD) but also may produce several adverse events including cognitive impairment. Zonisamide is a structurally related anticonvulsant that is a promising agent for the treatment of AD and may have greater tolerability than topiramate. This study evaluated the effects of zonisamide (400 mg/d) on alcohol con...

The anticonvulsant topiramate not only decreases ethanol consumption in alcohol dependence (AD) but also may produce several adverse events including cognitive impairment. Zonisamide is a structurally related anticonvulsant that is a promising agent for the treatment of AD and may have greater tolerability than topiramate. This study evaluated the effects of zonisamide (400 mg/d) on alcohol con...

Pregnancies in women with epilepsy are high risk and need careful management by both the medical and obstetric teams due to the increased incidence of complications and adverse outcomes of pregnancy. By the time a pregnant woman with epilepsy presents, the foetus is virtually fully formed and the opportunity for altering drug treatment has passed. Women need to be counselled and told to seek ad...

Background: Cutaneous drug reaction is a common side effect of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). In recent years, a significant increase in cases of cutaneous drug reaction due to AEDs and some changes in its pattern in our department have been noticed. Therefore, we carried out this study to present clinical and paraclinical characteristics of these cases. Methods: All records of patients who were h...

To determine the anticonvulsant activity of the leaf extract of Erythrina Indica in mice and rats, and in order to verify the traditional use of the plant in the treatment of epilepsy. The pentyleneterazole (PTZ) and the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) models were used for assessing the anticonvulsant effects of the chloroform leaf extract in mice and rats. The chloroform extract (500 mg/kg ...

The epilepsies are among the most common of neurological disorders, prevalence is about 1%1; based on this figure, there are 500 000 people in the UK who suffer from epilepsy. Approximately 70% of patients with epilepsy are well controlled by monotherapy with currently available antiepileptic drugs2. Another 5– 10% of patients are stabilized by the addition of another antiepileptic drug but the...

We report a clinical evaluation of the enzyme immunoassay (EMIT) performed with the GEMSAEC centrifugal analyzer as compared to gas-liquid and liquid chromatography for anticonvulsant drugs and theophylline, respectively. A good correlation was obtained for all drugs, although some difficulties were experienced with one lot of reagent for ethosuximide. The analyzer has an economic advantage if ...