TY - JOUR
T1 - Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy following resective epilepsy surgery in two patients withdrawn from anticonvulsants
AU - Mansouri, Alireza
AU - Alhadid, Kenda
AU - Valiante, Taufik A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - We report sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) following resective epilepsy surgery in two patients who had been documented as seizure free. One patient had been weaned off of anticonvulsants and was leading a normal life. The other patient had discontinued only one anticonvulsant but had recently started working night shifts. Following resective epilepsy surgery, one of the major objectives among patients, caregivers, and the healthcare team is to safely wean patients off anticonvulsant medications. The main concern regarding anticonvulsant withdrawal is seizure recurrence. While SUDEP following surgical resection has been reported, to our knowledge, there have been no confirmed cases in patients who have been seizure free. Considering the patients reported here, and given that there are no concrete guidelines for the safe withdrawal of anticonvulsants following epilepsy surgery, the discontinuation of anticonvulsants should be considered carefully and must be accompanied by close monitoring and counseling of patients regarding activities that lower seizure threshold, even after successful epilepsy surgery.
AB - We report sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) following resective epilepsy surgery in two patients who had been documented as seizure free. One patient had been weaned off of anticonvulsants and was leading a normal life. The other patient had discontinued only one anticonvulsant but had recently started working night shifts. Following resective epilepsy surgery, one of the major objectives among patients, caregivers, and the healthcare team is to safely wean patients off anticonvulsant medications. The main concern regarding anticonvulsant withdrawal is seizure recurrence. While SUDEP following surgical resection has been reported, to our knowledge, there have been no confirmed cases in patients who have been seizure free. Considering the patients reported here, and given that there are no concrete guidelines for the safe withdrawal of anticonvulsants following epilepsy surgery, the discontinuation of anticonvulsants should be considered carefully and must be accompanied by close monitoring and counseling of patients regarding activities that lower seizure threshold, even after successful epilepsy surgery.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jocn.2015.03.007
DO - 10.1016/j.jocn.2015.03.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 25943631
AN - SCOPUS:84945455019
SN - 0967-5868
VL - 22
SP - 1505
EP - 1506
JO - Journal of Clinical Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Clinical Neuroscience
IS - 9
ER -