J Korean Epilepsy Soc.
2003 Jun;7(1):37-40.
Perioperative Use of Anticonvulsants in Neurosurgery
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea. chungc@snu.ac.kr
- 2Clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
- The perioperative use of anticonvulsants in patients receiving craniotomy for various CNS diseases has been a routine practice in neurosurgery. However, there have been no unified evidence-based guidelines for the perioperative use of anticonvulsants. We searched for published studies related to this subject in MEDLINE and reviewed them. Several randomized controlled studies were regarded as more important because they could provide strong evidence. The conclusions are as follows. First, postoperative seizures are serious problems in neurosurgical practice and should be strictly controlled. Second, anticonvulsants could decrease the occurrence of postoperative seizures. Third, the therapeutic serum levels of anticonvulsants are of utmost importance in the prevention of postoperative seizures. Fourth, valproic acid has no advantage over phenytoin in the prevention of postoperative seizures.
