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Anticonvulsants for preventing seizures in patients with chronic subdural haematoma

B Ratilal1, J Costa, C Sampaio

  • 1Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital de São José, Rua José António Serrano, Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, 1150-199. bratilal@yahoo.com

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
|July 22, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Prophylactic anticonvulsants are sometimes used for chronic subdural haematoma, but evidence is lacking. No randomized controlled trials were found, so recommendations cannot be made.

Area of Science:

  • Neurosurgery
  • Clinical Neurology

Background:

  • Prophylactic anticonvulsant therapy is sometimes administered to patients diagnosed with chronic subdural haematoma.
  • The efficacy of this prophylactic treatment remains uncertain and requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the effectiveness of prophylactic anticonvulsants in patients with chronic subdural haematoma.
  • Evaluate efficacy in both pre-operative and post-operative contexts.

Main Methods:

  • A comprehensive literature search was conducted across multiple databases including Cochrane, MEDLINE, and EMBASE.
  • Searched for randomized controlled trials comparing anticonvulsants against placebo or no intervention.
  • References of identified studies were also reviewed.

Main Results:

  • The systematic review identified no randomized controlled trials that met the inclusion criteria.
  • Consequently, no data on the efficacy of prophylactic anticonvulsants in this patient group could be analyzed.

Conclusions:

  • No formal recommendations can be made regarding the use of prophylactic anticonvulsants for chronic subdural haematoma due to a lack of high-quality evidence.
  • Conflicting results from non-controlled studies highlight the need for well-designed randomized controlled trials.
Abstract

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