الفهرس 
ِAcknowledgement
MemantineOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders that affect people in every country throughout the world especially in the developing countries. Co-morbidities in epilepsy are very common and are often more problematic to individuals than the seizures themselves. Cognitive abnormalities are among the most common and troublesome co-morbidities with epilepsy. The cognitive and behavioral impairments are critical determinants of the reductions in quality of life observed in patients with epilepsy as learning disabilities, academic difficulties, poor attention and concentration, and impoverished memory. Cognitive disturbances in epilepsy are multifactorial in origin including underlying neuropathology, anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) and psychosocial issues of the patient due to the disease.
Memantine is a drug used to improve cognitive functions in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s dementia. It significantly reduces the rate of clinical deterioration in these patients by reducing excitotoxicity and preventing cell damage. This mechanism of action of memantine has pushed us to try to use it in improving cognitive and memory impairment in epileptic patients which is most likely caused by glutamate excitotoxicity.
In our study, we aimed at evaluating the efficacy of memantine in improving the cognitive and memory impairment in patients with epilepsy. We screened epileptic patients using complete clinical evaluation, CT brain and mini-mental state examination. The study was carried out over 100 patients with idiopathic epilepsy associated with mild to moderate cognitive impairment of age group 18-55 years old. Those 100 patients were divided into 2 groups each group included 50 patients. group (A): patients received memantine. group (B): patients received placebo. Memantine hydrochloride tablet was given at dose of 5 mg once daily orally for 3months then the dose was titrated to 10 mg once daily orally for the remaining 3months. Placebo was given once daily orally for 6months. All patients were subjected to baseline cognitive assessment using WAIS, MAS and BVMT-R. Follow up was done at 3rd and 6th months using the same scales.
The results of our study revealed the following:
In Memantine group there was significant gradual improvement in cognitive and memory functions by WAIS, MAS and BVMT-R after 3 and 6 months in comparison to baseline assessment.
In Placebo group there was no significant improvement in cognition and memory functions after 3 and 6 months in comparison to baseline assessment.
Conclusion