Anticonvulsant drugs

Anticonvulsant drugs

Anticonvulsant drugs inhibit neuromuscular transmission and areprescribed for:

·                 long-term management of chronic epilepsy (recurrent seizures)

·                 short-term management of acute isolated seizures not caused by epilepsy, such as those occurring after trauma or brain surgery.

·                 In addition, some anticonvulsants are used in the emergency treatment of status epilepticus (a continuous seizure state).

·                 Treatment of epilepsy should begin with a single drug whose dosage is increased until seizures are controlled or adverse reac-tions become problematic. Generally, a second alternative should be tried as monotherapy before combination therapy is consid-ered. The choice of drug treatment depends on seizure type, drug characteristics, and patient preferences.

Major classes

Anticonvulsants fall into several major classes:

·                 Hydantoins

·                 barbiturates

·                 iminostilbenes

·                 benzodiazepines

·                 carboxylic acid derivatives

·                 1-(aminomethyl) cyclohexane–acetic acid

·                 phenyltriazines

·                 carboxamides

·                 sulfamate-substituted monosaccharides

·                 succinimides

·                 sulphonamides

·                 pyrrolidines.