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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Behavioral Characterization of Pentylenetetrazole-induced Seizures: Moving Beyond the Racine Scale
Published on: July 8, 2025
Seizure deterioration in women treated with oxcarbazepine during pregnancy
Vaiva Petrenaite1, Anne Sabers, Jacob Hansen-Schwartz
1The Epilepsy Clinic, Department of Neurology, Glostrup University Hospital, DK-2600 Glostrup, Denmark. vaivape@gmail.com
Abstract:
Thirteen pregnancies in ten women on oxcarbazepine (OXC) monotherapy and one pregnancy in a woman on OXC and topiramate therapy were retrospectively analyzed. A significant decrease of ratio plasma concentration of 10-monohydroxy derivate (MHD) of oxcarbazepine to dosage was found by 26.2% during first trimester, by 36.5% during second trimester and by 38.2% during third trimester when compared to pre-pregnant levels. Eight patients experienced seizure deterioration during the pregnancy, five of which had been seizure-free before the pregnancy. In seven pregnancies (50%) the seizure frequency was at least doubled during pregnancy compared to a pre-pregnancy baseline. There was a trend toward a correlation between seizure deterioration and decrease in plasma concentration of MHD.
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