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Effects of Monotherapy and Polytherapy on the Blink Reflex in Epileptic Patients
Author(s) -
Lancman Marcelo Elias,
Cristiano Edgardo,
Golimstok Angel,
Granillo Rubens Jorge
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
epilepsia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.687
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1528-1167
pISSN - 0013-9580
DOI - 10.1111/j.1528-1157.1993.tb02137.x
Subject(s) - corneal reflex , anesthesia , epilepsy , reflex , medicine , pathophysiology , latency (audio) , psychology , psychiatry , electrical engineering , engineering
Summary: We performed the blink reflex (BR) in 20 normal volunteers, 13 epileptic patients receiving antiepileptic drug (AED) monotherapy, and 13 epileptic patients receiving AED polytherapy. Comparison of R1, ipsilateral and contralateral R2 and VIIth nerve latencies in the three groups showed no statistically significant differences in R1 and VIIth nerve latencies among the three groups. There were statistically significant differences between the polytherapy group and the monotherapy and control groups in comparisons of ipsilateral and contralateral R2. There were no significant differences between the monotherapy group and the control group for ipsilateral and contralateral R2. We hypothesized that AED polytherapy might interfere with synaptic transmission in the polysynaptic pathway of the blink reflex, prolonging the latency of R2. These results provide further evidence of the pathophysiologic effects associated with polytherapy in epileptic patients.