Misdiagnosis of lamotrigine toxicity as posterior circulation transient ischemic attack or stroke.

CONCLUSION: Emergency departments will frequently call a stroke alert for patients taking LTG and presenting with symptoms consistent with LTG toxicity, particularly in seniors at greater risk of stroke. This adds not only expense but also radiation and contrast exposure from computed tomography (CT) studies. We recommend that a rapid LTG assay be made available and always ordered in patients receiving LTG, avoiding the considerable expense of an unnecessary stroke evaluation.
PMID: 32652284 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Epilepsy and Behaviour - July 7, 2020 Category: Neurology Authors: Ramey P, Osborn M, Kirshner H, Abou-Khalil B Tags: Epilepsy Behav Source Type: research