The prophylactic use of an antiepileptic drug in intracerebral hemorrhage
Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, 11/22/2011
Clinical Article
Reddig RT et al. – This study confirms previous reports that patients with acute, spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH) are at an increased risk for early seizures. Prophylactic antiepileptic drug(PAED) use in this series was not significantly associated with the risk of early seizures, long–term epilepsy, disability, or death.
Methods- All patients with a discharge diagnosis of acute, spontaneous ICH admitted to the institution in the calendar years 2004 and 2007 were included.
- Records for baseline characteristics, hospital course, PAED use, early seizures, length of stay, discharge disposition, and death were retrospectively reviewed.
- 157 patients met the criteria for review.
- 46 (29%) patients were placed on a PAED.
- 12 (7.6%) had early seizures.
- 11% of patients placed on a PAED had an early seizure versus 6.3% who not placed on a PAED.
- Death or hospice discharge was less common in patients prescribed a PAED, while length of stay was longer, however neither of these differences were significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons.
