Cerebellar atrophy does not increase susceptibility to carbamazepine toxicity

Cerebellar atrophy (CA) is a frequent finding in patients with chronic epilepsy. To find out whether the existence of CA has an influence on the tolerance of high‐dose monotherapy with carbamazepine, we compared the lowest individual toxic serum levels in patients with complex focal seizures, with CA (n = 27) and without CA (n = 20) in computerized tomography (CT). There was no statistical difference between the groups, even after separating patients with mild CA (n = 20) from those with more severe damage (n = 7). In addition, other clinical, EEG and CT data also seemed to have no influence on the individual toxic threshold serum levels of carbamazepine.

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