We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part IV - Drug interactions in specific patient populations and special conditions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2009
Introduction
The possibility that cognitive impairment may develop as a consequence or aftermath of epilepsy was raised as early as 1885 when Gowers described ‘epileptic dementia’ as an effect of the pathological sequela of seizures. Nonetheless, the topic was not coupled to antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment until the 1970s.
It has now been established that AED treatment may be associated with a variety of side-effects (Aldenkamp, 1995, 1998; Vermeulen and Aldenkamp, 1995, 2001). Some effects appear immediately after the start of drug exposure, such as nystagmus, but are relatively benign because they show habituation (Kulig and Meinardi, 1977), or are reversible when they are dose dependent. Others may be of insidious onset, emerging only after extended periods of treatment (i.e. chronic side-effects). A multitude of such chronic side-effects have been documented (Reynolds, 1975), but the most frequently reported effects concern central nervous system (CNS) effects. This chapter reviews some of our knowledge about a specific subgroup of such CNS-related chronic side-effects of AED treatment, that is, cognitive side effects: the adverse effects of drug treatment on information-processing systems.
Such effects are considered to be much more moderate than for example, some of the idiosyncratic reactions to drugs and normally do not lead to discontinuation of drug treatment.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
