Immediate-release versus controlled-release carbamazepine in the treatment of epilepsy

Abstract

At present, data from trials do not confirm or refute an advantage for CR CBZ over IR CBZ for seizure frequency or adverse events in patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy.For trials involving epilepsy patients already prescribed IR CBZ, no conclusions can be drawn concerning superiority of CR CBZ with respect to seizure frequency.There is a trend for CR CBZ to be associated with fewer adverse events when compared to IR CBZ. A change to CR CBZ may therefore be a worthwhile strategy in patients with acceptable seizure control on IR CBZ but experiencing unacceptable adverse events. The included trials were of small size, poor methodological quality and possessed a high risk of bias, limiting the validity of this conclusion.Randomised controlled trials comparing CR CBZ to IR CBZ and using clinically relevant outcomes are required to inform the choice of CBZ preparation for patients with newly diagnosed epilepsy.

Three-Dimensional Printing of Carbamazepine Sustained-Release Scaffold

“…The carbamazepine amount released initially in the scaffolds with 8 holes (0.4348, 0.7246, and 1.0246 mg released initially) and 12 holes (0.1995, 0.8598, and 1.4366 mg released initially) increased as the hole diameters increased (1, 1.5, 2 mm). However, there was no observable trend between the number of holes (4,8,12) and the amount of carbamazepine released initially.…”

“…The rate of release in the scaffolds with 4 holes (0.0049, 0.0065, 0.0074 mg/min) and 12 holes (0.0021, 0.0050, 0.0092 mg/min) increased as the diameters increased in the order of 1, 1.5, and 2 mm. In the scaffolds with 2 mm diameter holes, the rate of release (0.0074, 0.0090, 0.0092 mg/min) increased with the number of holes (4,8,12).…”

“…3D models of scaffolds with varying positions (side vs. top and bottom), hole diameters (1.5 and 2 mm), and number of holes (4,5,8,12) were constructed ( Table 1).…”

“…7 Side effects also impact seizure control directly as they limit the AED dose which can be given to patients. 8 These side effects are transient or episodic, partially reflecting oscillations in individual AED concentrations in the blooddeven minor fluctuations above a threshold concentration are reported to produce these side effects. 6 On the other hand, sub-therapeutic serum drug concentrations result in an increased risk of breakthrough seizures.…”

Music therapy as a non-pharmacological treatment for epilepsy

“…seizure Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases [1,2] and affects 65 million patients worldwide [3]. In developed countries, the annual incidence rate is approximately 50/100,000 [4,5], and is common in infants and the elderly [6][7][8]. Epilepsy requires longterm costly treatment.…”