Donepezil

LOS ANGELES -- Donepezil may improve memory in patients with epilepsy Jennifer Bortz, Ph.D., reported in a poster session at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society.

Memory impairments, which are "huge problems" in epilepsy increase in association with the number of seizures, said Dr. Bortz, who headed the research while a psychologist at the Barrow Neurological Institute of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, Ariz.

Two patients with no seizures in the year before the study experienced tonicclonic seizures while on donepezil. "A randomized controlled trial is warranted, but with close monitoring for possible increases of seizures," related to donepezil use, said Dr. Bortz, who is now at Mayo Clinic Hospital, Scottsdale.

She and her associates enrolled 18 patients (average age, 31 years) with partial seizures. After a 3-month evaluation, the investigators administered 1 month of donepezil 5 mg daily then 2 months of donepezil 10 mg daily Patients took tests assessing verbal memory and attention, including the Buschke Selective Reminding Test, which assesses rote verbal learning and memory by sequential presentations of 12 unrelated words over 12 trials.

The number of words recalled across learning trials was higher while patients were on donepezil. Consistency of recall over repeated trials, a measure of long-term memory also improved on the drug. Delayed recall was not significantly different, nor was random long-term retrieval, which would indicate fluctuation in the ability to retrieve words from long-term storage.

Donepezil was not associated with improvements in other cognitive domains, including basic attention, visual sequencing, mental flexibility or psychomotor speed. Quality-of-life scores did nor change significantly.

The mean 3-month seizure frequency was 2.70 at baseline, compared with 3.06 on donepezil. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures averaged 0.24 at baseline, compared with 0.82 on donepezil.

Side effects included diarrhea in four patients and stomach cramps, insomnia, depression, and blurred vision in one patient each.

COPYRIGHT 2001 International Medical News Group
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group