-
Medicine Oct 2015Essential tremor (ET) is the most common movement disorder that is frequently treated by propranolol or primidone. However, 30% of patients with ET do not respond to... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Essential tremor (ET) is the most common movement disorder that is frequently treated by propranolol or primidone. However, 30% of patients with ET do not respond to either propranolol or primidone. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of topiramate for ET.We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for relevant randomized controlled trials on the effects of topiramate for ET. A meta-analysis technique was applied to estimate the efficacy and safety of topiramate. The primary outcome was the change in the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin tremor rating scale (TRS). The secondary outcomes included the respective change in the location, motor tasks/function and function disability scores, and adverse events.We included 3 randomized controlled trials with a total of 294 participants. Topiramate was significantly better than placebo in reducing TRS of patients with ET (mean difference [MD] -8.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] -15.46 to -1.70). Changes from the scales of upper limb tremor severity (MD -5.12, 95% CI -7.79 to -2.45), motor tasks/function (MD -5.07, 95% CI -7.12 to -3.03), and functional disability (MD -4.72, 95% CI -6.77 to -2.67) were significantly greater with topiramate than with placebo. More participants taking topiramate experienced adverse events leading to withdrawal than those taking placebo (risk difference 19%, 95% CI 11%-27%).There is consistent evidence supporting the efficacy of topiramate in treating ET; however, a significant proportion of participants withdrew due to its adverse effects.
Topics: Anticonvulsants; Essential Tremor; Fructose; Humans; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Topiramate
PubMed: 26512577
DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000001809 -
European Review For Medical and... 2015To assess the association between Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)/ toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) and antiepileptics including the most recently authorized drugs.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the association between Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)/ toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) and antiepileptics including the most recently authorized drugs.
METHODS
In the Spanish Pharmacovigilance database, we searched for spontaneous reports of SJS or TEN associated with antiepileptic drugs and analysed: a) reporting odds ratio (ROR), b) age and gender of the patient, c) evolution, d) latency and recovery periods and e) presence or absence of other suspected drugs.
RESULTS
A total of 84 reports of SJS and 80 of TEN related to 9 antiepileptic drugs were studied. Reports were mainly associated with phenytoin (SJS: 28; TEN: 43), lamotrigine (SJS: 37; TEN: 20) and carbamazepine (SJS: 14; TEN: 16). Other antiepileptic drugs involved were: valproate, phenobarbital, oxcarbazepine, levetiracetam, primidone and gabapentin. Patients were of a median age of 40 [1-87] and 57.3% of them were women. Cases related to phenytoin were more common in older men and to lamotrigine in younger women. The latency period of SJS and TEN did not exceed the first month of treatment and, in most of the analysed reports, the outcome was recovery.
CONCLUSIONS
Our observations support the association of SJS or TEN with phenytoin, carbamazepine, valproate or phenobarbital and enlighten the role of lamotrigine and others such as oxcarbazepine or levetiracetam.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Amines; Anticonvulsants; Carbamazepine; Child; Child, Preschool; Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acids; Databases, Factual; Female; Gabapentin; Humans; Infant; Lamotrigine; Male; Middle Aged; Oxcarbazepine; Pharmacovigilance; Phenobarbital; Spain; Stevens-Johnson Syndrome; Triazines; Valproic Acid; Young Adult; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
PubMed: 26221907
DOI: No ID Found -
BMC Psychiatry Jul 2015With aging of society the absolute number and the proportion of patients with cognitive deficits increase. Multiple disorders and diseases can foster cognitive...
BACKGROUND
With aging of society the absolute number and the proportion of patients with cognitive deficits increase. Multiple disorders and diseases can foster cognitive impairment, e.g., Alzheimer's disease (AD), depressive disorder, or polypharmacy.
CASE PRESENTATION
A 74 year old man presented to the Old Age Psychiatry Service with cognitive deficits while being treated for recurrent depressive episodes and essential tremor with Venlafaxine, Lithium, and Primidone. Neuropsychological testing revealed a medio-temporal pattern of deficits with pronounced impairment of episodic memory, particularly delayed recall. Likewise, cognitive flexibility, semantic fluency, and attention were impaired. Positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorodeoxyglucose was performed and revealed a pattern of glucose utilization deficit resembling AD. On cessation of treatment with Lithium and Primidone, cognitive performance improved, particularly episodic memory performance and cognitive flexibility. Likewise, glucose metabolism normalized. Despite normalization of both, clinical symptoms and glucose utilization, the patient remained worried about possible underlying Alzheimer's disease pathology. To rule this out, an amyloid-PET was performed. No cortical amyloid was observed.
CONCLUSION
Pharmacological treatment of older subjects may mimic glucose metabolism and clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. In the present case both, imaging and clinical findings, reversed to normal on change of treatment. Amyloid PET is a helpful tool to additionally rule out underlying Alzheimer's disease in situations of clinical doubt even if clinical or other imaging findings are suggestive of Alzheimer's disease.
Topics: Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Anticonvulsants; Antidepressive Agents; Attention; Cognition Disorders; Depressive Disorder, Major; Diagnosis, Differential; Drug Therapy, Combination; Essential Tremor; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Humans; Lithium Compounds; Male; Memory Disorders; Memory, Episodic; Mental Recall; Neuropsychological Tests; Positron-Emission Tomography; Primidone; Radiopharmaceuticals; Recurrence; Venlafaxine Hydrochloride
PubMed: 26163145
DOI: 10.1186/s12888-015-0531-9 -
Acta Medica Iranica 2015The present study has been directed to investigate Ursodeoxycholic Acid (UDCA) effect in children, to reduce the high Liver transaminases induced by Anticonvulsant drugs...
The present study has been directed to investigate Ursodeoxycholic Acid (UDCA) effect in children, to reduce the high Liver transaminases induced by Anticonvulsant drugs (drug induced hepatitis). This idea has been driven from Cytoprotective and antioxidant properties of UDCA to be used in drug induced inflammation in Liver. Twenty two epileptic patients aged between 4 mo - 3 yr whom were under anticonvulsant therapy with drugs such as valperoic acid, primidone, levetiracetam, Phenobarbital or any combination of them and had shown Liver transaminases rise , after rule out of Viral-Autoimmune, Metabolic and Anatomic causes, have been prescribed UDCA in dose of 10-15 mg/kg/day, at least for 6 months. Any patient who have shown confusing factors such as genetic disorders with liver involvement or spontaneous decline in enzymes or had not treatment compliance has been excluded from the study. Transaminases range changes as well as Probable side effects of the drug have been monitored. The results indicated that UDCA is effective and well tolerable in the children with drug induced hyper transaminasemia. No side effect has been seen and recorded in this study. Based on this study and its results, we recommend UDCA as a safe and effective choice in drug induced hepatotoxicities.
Topics: Anticonvulsants; Antioxidants; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Infant; Liver Function Tests; Male; Pilot Projects; Prospective Studies; Transaminases; Ursodeoxycholic Acid
PubMed: 26069172
DOI: No ID Found -
Epilepsy & Behavior Case Reports 2014Coffin-Lowry syndrome (CLS) is a rare X-linked semidominant syndromic genetic disorder that is characterized by typical facial and radiologic findings, psychomotor and...
PURPOSE
Coffin-Lowry syndrome (CLS) is a rare X-linked semidominant syndromic genetic disorder that is characterized by typical facial and radiologic findings, psychomotor and growth retardation, and various skeletal anomalies. A distinctive paroxysmal disorder called stimulus-bound myoclonus is clinically heterogeneous and is generally characterized by a sudden loss of muscle tone that is regained within a few seconds and is induced by sudden auditory or tactile stimulus. As the pathophysiology of stimulus-induced drop episodes (SIDEs) is not well understood, there is no definite therapy for those episodes.
METHODS
We report a 15-year-old female with stimulus-induced drop episodes occurring many times a day that resulted in failure to perform her daily activities. Because her SIDEs were misdiagnosed as atonic seizures, she was treated with several antiepileptic drugs, including valproic acid, levetiracetam, lamotrigine, primidone, carbamazepine, and clobazam.
RESULTS
We realized that her clinical and radiological findings, together with SIDEs, are compatible with Coffin-Lowry syndrome. All of her medications were discontinued following the diagnosis of SIDE, and she was started on clonazepam. After treatment, she became more independent and was able to perform her daily activities. Subsequently, her episodes decreased from 3 times a day to 1-2 times a month. Sodium oxybate and fluoxetine were added to the treatment protocol without remarkable improvement. Her genetic analysis revealed a heterozygous variation of CLS.
CONCLUSION
We conclude that SIDE should be included in a differential diagnosis of epileptic seizures in patients with CLS and that clonazepam is an effective choice in the treatment of SIDEs.
PubMed: 25667906
DOI: 10.1016/j.ebcr.2014.09.007 -
Epileptic Disorders : International... Dec 2014Interactions between antiepileptic drugs, or between antiepileptic drugs and other drugs, can be pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic in nature. Pharmacokinetic... (Review)
Review
Interactions between antiepileptic drugs, or between antiepileptic drugs and other drugs, can be pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic in nature. Pharmacokinetic interactions involve changes in absorption, distribution or elimination, whereas pharmacodynamic interactions involve synergism and antagonism at the site of action. Most clinically important interactions of antiepileptic drugs result from induction or inhibition of drug metabolism. Carbamazepine, phenytoin, phenobarbital and primidone are strong inducers of cytochrome P450 and glucuronizing enzymes (as well as P-glycoprotein) and can reduce the efficacy of co-administered medications such as oral anticoagulants, calcium antagonists, steroids, antimicrobial and antineoplastic drugs through this mechanism. Oxcarbazepine, eslicarbazepine acetate, felbamate, rufinamide, topiramate (at doses ≥ 200 mg/day) and perampanel (at doses ≥ 8 mg/day) have weaker inducing properties, and a lower propensity to cause interactions mediated by enzyme induction. Unlike enzyme induction, enzyme inhibition results in decreased metabolic clearance of the affected drug, the serum concentration of which may increase leading to toxic effects. Examples of important interactions mediated by enzyme inhibition include the increase in the serum concentration of phenobarbital and lamotrigine caused by valproic acid. There are also interactions whereby other drugs induce or inhibit the metabolism of antiepileptic drugs, examples being the increase in serum carbamazepine concentration by erythromycin, and the decrease in serum lamotrigine concentration by oestrogen-containing contraceptives. Pharmacodynamic interactions between antiepileptic drugs may also be clinically important. These interactions can have potentially beneficial effects, such as the therapeutic synergism of valproic acid combined with lamotrigine, or adverse effects, such as the reciprocal potentiation of neurotoxicity observed in patients treated with a combination of sodium channel blocking antiepileptic drugs.
Topics: Anticonvulsants; Drug Interactions; Epilepsy; Humans
PubMed: 25515681
DOI: 10.1684/epd.2014.0714 -
Journal of General Internal Medicine Dec 2014Knowledge about factors associated with provider ordering of appropriate testing is limited.
BACKGROUND
Knowledge about factors associated with provider ordering of appropriate testing is limited.
OBJECTIVE
To determine physician factors associated with ordering recommended laboratory monitoring tests for high-risk medications.
METHODS
Retrospective cohort study of patients prescribed a high-risk medication requiring laboratory monitoring in a large multispecialty group practice between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2008. Analyses are based on administrative claims and electronic medical records. The outcome is a physician order for each recommended laboratory test for each prescribed medication. Key predictor variables are physician characteristics, including age, gender, specialty training, years since completing training, and prescribing volume. Additional variables are patient characteristics such as age, gender, comorbidity burden, whether the medication requiring monitoring is new or chronic, and drug-test characteristics such as inclusion in black box warnings. We used multivariable logistic regression, accounting for clustering of drugs within patients and patients within providers.
RESULTS
Physician orders for laboratory testing varied across drug-test pairs and ranged from 9% (Primidone-Phenobarbital level) to 97% (Azathioprine-CBC), with half of the drug-test pairs in the 85-91% ordered range. Test ordering was associated with higher provider prescribing volume for study drugs and specialist status (primary care providers were less likely to order tests than specialists). Patients with higher comorbidity burden and older patients were more likely to have appropriate tests ordered. Drug-test combinations with black box warnings were more likely to have tests ordered.
CONCLUSIONS
Interventions to improve laboratory monitoring should focus on areas with the greatest potential for improvement: providers with lower frequencies of prescribing medications with monitoring recommendations and those prescribing these medications for healthier and younger patients; patients with less interaction with the health care system are at particular risk of not having tests ordered. Black box warnings were associated with higher ordering rates and may be a tool to increase appropriate test ordering.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Drug Monitoring; Drug Utilization; Female; Health Services Research; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; New England; Practice Patterns, Physicians'; Prescription Drugs; Retrospective Studies
PubMed: 24965280
DOI: 10.1007/s11606-014-2907-9 -
Journal of Clinical Movement Disorders 2014Task specific tremors in musicians have been mainly described as primary bowing tremor in string instrumentalists in relatively small sample sizes. Our aim was to...
BACKGROUND
Task specific tremors in musicians have been mainly described as primary bowing tremor in string instrumentalists in relatively small sample sizes. Our aim was to describe epidemiology, risk factors, phenomenology and treatment options of this disorder in 23 musicians of different instruments.
METHODS
We included 23 professional musicians (4 female, 19 male; mean age 51.5 ± 11.4 years) with a TSTM. During anamnesis, clinical examination, by mail or via telephone patients were asked for epidemiological, phenomenological information, risk factors and treatments. We then compared our findings to primary writing tremor, the most common task specific tremor.
RESULTS
Age at onset of the TST was 44.6 ± 13.6 years and tremor appeared 35.1 ± 13.5 years after beginning to play the instrument. The majority of patients were string instrumentalists, followed by woodwind instrumentalists. Other instrumentalists were a guitarist, pianist and percussionist respectively. In contrast to primary writing tremor, we also found proximal muscles of the upper extremity involved in tremor. A positive family history was found in Prior trauma was more common than in primary writing tremor. Treatment with a positive effect on tremor were in order of efficacy: Botulinumtoxin, Primidone, Propranolol, Trihexyphenidyl. No patient had undergone deep brain stimulation.
CONCLUSION
Task specific tremor in musicians is a heterogeneous disorder with a male gender predominance that shares many commonalities with PWT. The onset age as well as the time between starting to play the instrument and tremor onset has a wide range. Because previous trauma and overuse appear to be risk factors, preventive measures against playing related injuries are necessary. There appears to be a genetic predisposition for TST. No single beneficial medication exists and treatment of patients remains highly individual. It should be discussed, whether deep brain stimulation should be offered not only to patients that do not respond to any other medication but early in the course of the disease.
PubMed: 26788331
DOI: 10.1186/2054-7072-1-5