What are the two goals of anticonvulsant therapy?
The goal of anticonvulsant therapy is to obtain complete control of epileptic seizures with the fewest drugs and at the least toxic and lowest possible dose. Approximately 70% to 80% of all patients can be seizure-free if drug plasma concentrations are properly monitored and the appropriate dose adjustments are made.
What do anticonvulsants do to the brain?
Anticonvulsants work by calming hyperactivity in the brain in various ways. For this reason, some of these drugs are used to treat epilepsy, prevent migraines, and treat other brain disorders. They are often prescribed for people who have rapid cycling — four or more episodes of mania and depression in a year.
What is the treatment of Sturge Weber Syndrome?
Treatment. Treatment for Sturge-Weber syndrome is symptomatic. Laser treatment may be used to lighten or remove the birthmark. Anticonvulsant medications may be used to control seizures. Persons with drug-resistant seizures may be treated by surgical removal of epileptic brain tissue.
What is first line therapy for seizure disorders?
Drugs for first-line monotherapy of seizures in elderly patients include carbamazepine, valproic acid, oxcarbazepine, gabapentin, and lamotrigine. The general perception is that seizures occur most often in infants but rarely in older adults.
What are the most common adverse effects of anticonvulsant drugs?
The most common side effects include dizziness, nausea, headache, vomiting, fatigue, vertigo, ataxia, blurred vision, and tremor.
What is the usual cause of failure of anticonvulsant therapy?
The main cause of treatment failure is due to not following the treatment plan. You don’t have epilepsy. You may be having events that look like seizures but are not. You may be having seizures, but something other than epilepsy is causing them.
What is the difference between antiepileptic and anticonvulsant?
Antiepileptic and anticonvulsant are both terms that refer to the same drugs that target different neural pathways to reduce seizure episodes in people with epilepsy disorders. Anticonvulsants are another name for antiepileptic drugs, which are medications used to treat seizure disorders and help suppress seizures.
Is gabapentin an anticonvulsant?
Gabapentin is in a class of medications called anticonvulsants. Gabapentin treats seizures by decreasing abnormal excitement in the brain. Gabapentin relieves the pain of PHN by changing the way the body senses pain. It is not known exactly how gabapentin works to treat restless legs syndrome.
What is Parkes Weber Syndrome?
What is Parkes Weber syndrome (PWS)? PWS is an exceptionally rare congenital (present at birth) vascular anomaly that results in a child having a large number of abnormal blood vessels. It’s similar to the more common Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome (KTS) and is treated in much the same way.
Is Sturge-Weber syndrome life expectancy?
Others have early onset seizures, numerous strokelike episodes and neurologic deterioration with hemiparesis and mental retardation. Life expectancy is thought to be normal. No consistent cytogenetic abnormalities have been found in association with Sturge-Weber syndrome.
Does anticonvulsant drug eliminate also the cause of seizure?
Antiepileptic medications do not alter the underlying problem predisposing to seizures. People with epilepsy are prescribed antiepileptic medications with the aim of decreasing the number, severity, and/or duration of seizures.
When do you start anticonvulsant?
For patients presenting with two or more seizures, consensus holds that treatment should be initiated if the seizures were of significant symptomatology such that the patient would wish treatment, and they occurred over a period of less than 6-12 months.
How is computed tomography used to diagnose ectasia?
Recently, coronary artery computed tomography has been used in the evaluation of ectatic vessels. Coronary artery ectasia usually has been associated with atheromatous changes, but not with significant CAD: thrombosis was a rare complication.
Can a person with CAE have ectasia?
Patients with pure ectasia (15% of the total population with CAE) have a more benign course, but 39% still present signs of previous myocardial infarction. (1) All three coronary vessels can be affected by CAE, but almost 75% of patients will have an isolated artery that is ectatic.
How is ectasia related to connective tissue disorders?
Coronary dilatation is isolated ectasia in association with connective tissue disorders, such as scleroderma, in Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, in different types of ANCA-related vasculitis (2), and also in syphilitic aortitis and Kawasaki disease. (3) In a small percentage of patients, CAE can be congenital in origin.
What makes an anticonvulsant therapy a success?
Successful anticonvulsant therapy depends on the maintenance of plasma concentrations of appropriate anticonvulsant drugs within a therapeutic range defined for the species in which the drug is to be administered. Therefore anticonvulsant drugs that are eliminated slowly should be employed.
