Oxcarbazepine versus carbamazepine in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal

Abstract

In a single-blinded and randomized pilot study efficacy and tolerability of oxcarbazepine versus carbamazepine were investigated in 29 patients during therapy of alcohol withdrawal. No initial differences were found regarding sociodemographic data and alcohol-related parameters, indicating successful randomization. The oxcarbazepine group showed a significant decrease of withdrawal symptoms and reported significantly less 'craving for alcohol' compared to the carbamazepine group. Subjectively experienced side effects, normalization of vegetative parameters and improvement in the cognitive processing speed did not reveal differences for both groups. Therefore, oxcarbazepine might be an interesting alternative to carbamazepine, and having almost no addictive potential, no clinically relevant interaction with alcohol and no prominent sedatory effect, possibly also to other drugs such as benzodiazepines or clomethiazole, in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

High and low dosage oxcarbazepine versus naltrexone for the prevention of relapse in alcohol‐dependent patients

“…The increased NMDA transmission due to alcohol discontinuation can cause withdrawal symptoms, withdrawal-related seizures, delirium tremens (Gonzalez et al, 2001) and craving, mechanisms potentially determining an alcohol relapse. Recent data concerning the effect of OXC on alcohol withdrawal (Lu et al, 2005;Schik et al, 2005) confirm what described.…”

“…Besides the treatment of alcohol protracted withdrawal may represent a further factor to take into account as a possible mechanism of OXC efficacy, given the mean improvement of the withdrawal symptoms in OXC low group that revealed to be significantly superior to that of the NAL group. The OXC efficacy on alcohol withdrawal symptoms has been described in different studies (Lu et al, 2005;Schik et al, 2005), and could represent a further issue to take into account in relapse prevention strategies.…”

Multidimensionality of the Alcohol Withdrawal Symptom Checklist: A Factor Analysis of the Alcohol Withdrawal Symptom Checklist and CIWA‐Ar

“…Sullivan et al (1989) eliminated 5 redundant or uninformative items from the 15-item CIWA-A to create the revised CIWA (CIWA-Ar) to improve the efficiency, reliability, and validity of this scale. Used to clinically quantify and evaluate patient symptoms and often used to assess the need for medication, the CIWA-Ar has been employed in many recent pharmacotherapy trials (Addolorato et al, 2006;Favre et al, 2005;Schik et al, 2005). Several other measures of AWS have been introduced subsequently, primarily to reduce interviewer and respondent burden (Banger et al, 1992;Benzer, 1990;Gossop et al, 2002;Wetterling et al, 1997).…”

Levetiracetam for the Treatment of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome

“…12,46,47 Only for carbamazepin, oxcarbazepine, 48,49 and valproate, 50Y52 data from trials with relatively small numbers of patients (n = 13Y50) indicated a specific effect on the reduction of at least mild vegetative symptoms. On the other hand, those trials also showed that drug adverse effects may seriously reduce the utility of carbamazepin and valproate as routine treatment for the prevention of alcohol withdrawal symptoms.…”