Scientists Seek Early Interventions For Epilepsy

Scientists are searching for early warning signs of post-injury epilepsy, which can develop years after trauma to the brain and is often presaged by attention problems that doctors don't connect to the condition.

About 1.4 million Americans suffer serious head injuries each year. Up to a quarter of them will become epileptics as their damaged brains fail to heal properly, with newly formed neural connections going haywire.

Among the efforts: pilot studies to see if the newer seizure-treating drugs Topamax or Keppra might actually prevent epilepsy if they’re taken immediately after a serious brain injury. [...]

“It’s a bit of a shot in the dark,” acknowledges Dr. Pavel Klein, who is running the Keppra study at Washington Hospital Center and Children’s National Medical Center in the nation’s capitol.

But there are some hints that these newer drugs might work, perhaps by inhibiting cell-harming chemicals wrought by post-injury inflammation, he says.

Each study is enrolling about 90 patients, a first step to ensure the drugs won’t harm overall recovery before larger trials begin. Participants get the drug within hours of arriving at the emergency room, and take it for one to three months. Klein has treated 60 patients so far with no serious side effects; Dichter’s study at Penn begins enrolling soon

Researchers try to predict epilepsy [Associated Press]

Image: National Library of Medicine