Epilepsy - Highlights

Highlights

Drug Warnings

• Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) may cause serious skin reactions such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis. Patients taking this drug should see their doctor at the first sign of a rash.
• The Epilepsy Foundation advises women of childbearing age to talk to their doctors about anticonvulsants. Many anticonvulsant drugs can cause birth defects when taken early in pregnancy. Women should also make sure that their anticonvulsant blood levels are regularly checked during pregnancy.

Drug Approvals

• Pregabalin (Lyrica). Add-on therapy for treatment of partial-onset seizures in adults. This is the first epilepsy use for pregabalin.
• Topiramate (Topamax). Single therapy in patients 10 years of age and older with partial-onset or primary generalized tonic-clonic seizures.
• Levetiracetam (Keppra). Add-on therapy for treatment of partial-onset seizures in children ages 4 years and older.

Drug Research

Immediate drug treatment may not be necessary for patients with early epilepsy or infrequent seizures, according to a 2005 Lancet study. The study found that:

• Early drug treatment does not affect seizure recurrence.
• Delaying treatment does not increase the risk of developing chronic epilepsy.

Surgery

• The benefits of temporal lobe surgery may last for decades, according to a 2005 Neurology study. After 30 years, half of the 48 patients studied were seizure-free.
• Early surgical intervention may help improve cognitive development and stop seizures, suggests a study of children ages 3 to 7 years with epilepsy.

Risk Factors and Complications

• Stroke is a risk factor for epilepsy. A 2005 study reported that 3% of stroke patients develop epilepsy. Patients who had a severe stroke werefive times more likely to develop epilepsy than patients who had a mild stroke.
• Epilepsy may increase the risk for developing schizophrenia or schizophrenia-like psychosis, suggests a 2005 British Medical Journal study.