Effect of Oxcarbazepine on Background EEG Activity and Cognition in Epilepsy

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cognitive dysfunction related to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is an important issue in the management of patients with epilepsy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate relative long-term effects of oxcarbazepine (OXC) on cognition in drug-naive patients with epilepsy. METHODS: Fifteen drug-naïve epilepsy patients were enrolled. Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings and neuropsychological (NP) tests were performed before and after OXC monotherapy. The relative power of the discrete frequency bandwas obtained. In addition, interhemispheric and intrahemispheric spectral coherence was also calculated. RESULTS: NP tests showed significant improvement in visuo-spatial, memory and executive function after OXC treatment. However, neither spectral power nor coherence changed significantly with OXC treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our study supports the notion that OXC has no significant cognitive side effect in patients with epilepsy.