Objective: To identify the utilization pattern of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in a representative sample of the Pakistani population. To highlight the main risk factors associated with different forms of epilepsy. Methods: A retrospective drug utilization review study was conducted at three teaching institutions of Karachi. During the nine months study period, epileptic and non-epileptic patient...

Neonatal seizures are common in the neonatal intensive care unit. Clinicians treat these seizures with several anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) to reduce seizures in a neonate. Current AEDs exhibit sub-optimal efficacy and several randomized control trials (RCT) of novel AEDs are planned. The aim of this study was to measure the influence of trial design on the required sample size of a RCT. We used...

Poster presentation Some autistic children also have symptoms of depression, anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Aromatic anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) may be used as a mood-stabilizing medication to treat these symptoms, including carbamazepine (CBZ), oxcarbazepine (OXCBZ), and lamotrigene (LMG). Moreover, one in every four autistic spectrum disorder children have seizures, the use o...

background epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease with the prevalence of around one percent. despite the introductions of several anti-epileptic drugs, around 1/3 of epileptic patients are resistant to the anti-epileptic medications. objectives considering the evidence regarding the anti-oxidant action of vitamin e and its beneficiary effect in the treatment of epilepsy, we investigated the...

There is emerging evidence to support the unfavorable effects of some anti-epileptic drugs on the plasma homocysteine concentrations. Elevated homocysteine levels induced by anti-epileptic drug administration can theoretically increase not only the risk of vascular occlusive diseases, but also the risk of resistance to anti-epileptics and development of refractory epilepsy. To investigate the e...

Dravet syndrome (DS) is an epileptic encephalopathy related mainly to mutations in the SCN1A gene, encoding for neuronal sodium channels. Patients with DS have a high risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). In this study we investigated whether patients with DS present abnormalities in electrical and autonomic cardiac function. To this aim we assessed ventricular repolarization and...

PURPOSE A substantial proportion of epilepsy patients ( approximately 30%) continue to have seizures despite carefully optimized treatment with antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). One key concept to explain the development of pharmacoresistance is that epilepsy-related changes in the properties of CNS drug targets result in AED-insensitivity of these targets. These changes then contribute to drug-resis...

Aggressive symptomatology presents across multiple psychiatric, developmental, neurological and behavioral disorders, complicating the diagnosis and treatment of the underlying pathology. Anti-Epileptic Drugs (AEDs) have become an appealing alternative in the treatment of aggression, mood lability and impulsivity in adult and pediatric populations, although few controlled trials have explored t...

Epilepsy and migraine are episodic neurological disorders with marked co-morbidity, making migraine common among epileptic patients. Conversely, several antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are used as migraine-preventive medication. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) represents a transient suppression of bioelectric activity and is considered a key event in migraine and stroke. This study assessed the ...