Veterinary Journal
Veterinary Journal
5 years ago

Imepitoin withdrawal in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy well-controlled with imepitoin and phenobarbital and/or potassium bromide does not increase seizure frequency

Phenobarbital or potassium bromide (KBr) add-on treatment decreases the average monthly seizure frequency in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy resistant to a maximum dose of imepitoin. The importance of continued administration of imepitoin in these dogs is currently unknown. The goal of this study was to assess whether imepitoin withdrawal would destabilize epileptic seizure control. In this prospective clinical trial epileptic seizure control was evaluated by comparing the monthly seizure frequency of 13 dogs with well-controlled idiopathic epilepsy receiving a combination of imepitoin and phenobarbital (n =4), imepitoin and KBr (n =7), and imepitoin, phenobarbital and KBr (n =2) during a period of 3 to 6 months (pre-withdrawal period), with a follow-up period of 9 to 12 months after withdrawal of imepitoin (post-withdrawal period). Adverse effects were also recorded before and after withdrawal of imepitoin. Imepitoin was tapered off over 3 months as follows: 20mg/kg twice daily for 1 month, then 10mg/kg twice daily for 1 month, then once daily for 1 month. Withdrawal of imepitoin did not increase monthly seizure frequency (P =0.9). Moreover, all owners reported improvement in the adverse effects experienced by their dog after withdrawal of imepitoin. Imepitoin withdrawal in epileptic dogs that were well-controlled with imepitoin and phenobarbital and/or KBr did not worsen epileptic seizure control, and possibly decreased antiepileptic treatment-related adverse effects. However, a worsening of seizure frequency could occur in individual cases.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S1090023317301855

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.