Antiepileptic drugs such as phenytoin, levetiracetam, and valproic acid may not result in improvements in neurologic outcomes or reductions in seizure activity in patients with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), study results published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine suggest.
The study was a meta-analysis of 8 trials that included 4211 adult patients with spontaneous ICH. Only studies that compared prophylactic antiepileptic therapy vs no preventive therapy were included in the analysis.
A limitation of the meta-analysis was the inclusion of predominantly observational and retrospective studies.
The findings from this study do not appear to “support routine use of an antiepileptic drug for primary seizure prevention in adults with spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.” The study investigators do, however, believe that “there remains a need for further randomized data with consideration of patient injury severity.”