Carbamazepine
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Carbamazepine Syncope and sudden unexpected death: first report Treatment with carbamazepine 200mg bid was initiated in a 20-year- old woman with a 7-year history of intractable petit mal but well-controlled grand mal epilepsy who was rediagnosed as having temporal lobe epilepsy. Syncopal episodes began within a few hours of starting treatment 3 days later. The episodes lasted a few minutes, preceded by lightheadedness and followed by total recovery. During a typical attack she became pulseless without heart sounds and resuscitation was unsuccessful. Necropsy was unremarkable except for aspiration of stomach contents and there was no evidence of overdose; anticonvulsant levels were within therapeutic range. The authors suggested that carbamazepine was responsible for the syncopal attacks and sudden death of the patient and recommended that ' ... any patient on carbamazepine, for whatever reason, who complains of syncope or a change in seizure type, should be admitted for investigation of this atrio-ventricular conduction system'. Stone S. Lange LS. Journal of Neurology. Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 49: 1460-1461, Dec 1986 8 REACTIONS- 24 Jan 1987 0157-7271/87/0124-0008/0$01.00/0 © ADIS Press
Transcript of Carbamazepine
Carbamazepine Syncope and sudden unexpected death: first report
Treatment with carbamazepine 200mg bid was initiated in a 20-yearold woman with a 7-year history of intractable petit mal but well-controlled grand mal epilepsy who was rediagnosed as having temporal lobe epilepsy. Syncopal episodes began within a few hours of starting treatment 3 days later. The episodes lasted a few minutes, preceded by lightheadedness and followed by total recovery. During a typical attack she became pulseless without heart sounds and resuscitation was unsuccessful. Necropsy was unremarkable except for aspiration of stomach contents and there was no evidence of overdose; anticonvulsant levels were within therapeutic range.
The authors suggested that carbamazepine was responsible for the syncopal attacks and sudden death of the patient and recommended that ' ... any patient on carbamazepine, for whatever reason, who complains of syncope or a change in seizure type, should be admitted for investigation of this atrio-ventricular conduction system'.
Stone S. Lange LS. Journal of Neurology. Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 49: 1460-1461, Dec 1986
8 REACTIONS- 24 Jan 1987 0157-7271/87/0124-0008/0$01.00/0 © ADIS Press
