BACKGROUND Antipsychotics are recognised as a critical intervention for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Guidelines globally endorse the routine practice of antipsychotic monotherapy, at the minimum effective dose. Even in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, clozapine use is endorsed before combining antipsychotics. This aim of this study was to review antipsychotic polytherapy alone, high-do...

objective epilepsy occurs in 12 % to 90 % of children with cerebral palsy (cp). however its clinical course is not well defined. this investigation was undertaken to study and determine the characteristics and prevalence of epilepsy in children with cerebral palsy. materials & methods of 133 children with cerebral palsy, seen between 1998 and 2001, in the pediatric neurology clinic of the imam ...

BACKGROUND In the face of availability of newer antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) such as lamotrigine and topiramate, there is need to reassess the role of older AEDs in the treatment of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). OBJECTIVES To explore whether lamotrigine and topiramate monotherapy or polytherapy can be effective options in the treatment of JME, and to determine whether older AEDs, such as p...

Approximately 30-40% of patients do not achieve seizure control with a single antiepileptic drug (AED). With the advent of multiple AEDs in the past 15 years, rational polytherapy, the goal of finding combinations of AEDs that have favorable characteristics, has become of greater importance. We review the theoretical considerations based on AED mechanism of action, animal models, human studies ...

The process of conversion between AED monotherapies is frequently necessary in epilepsy care, yet little practical guidance is available to practitioners. This article introduces an issue of Current Neuropharmacology devoted to the theme of AED conversions and related issues. In this series of articles, we reviewed the role of AED monotherapy in newly diagnosed epilepsy, the practice of transit...

OBJECTIVES To examine the relative risks of additional educational needs (AENs) in children exposed to antiepileptic drug (AED) monotherapy and polytherapy regimes in utero. METHODS A retrospective survey of women between the ages of 16 to 40 registered at the Mersey Regional Epilepsy Clinic, who received a postal questionnaire concerning their experience of pregnancy and the subsequent schoo...

OBJECTIVE To identify adverse events (AEs) associated with Levetiracetam (LEV) in children. METHODS Databases EMBASE (1974-February 2015) and Medline (1946-February 2015) were searched for articles in which paediatric patients (≤18 years) received LEV treatment for epilepsy. All studies with reports on safety were included. Studies involving adults, mixed age population (i.e. children and adu...