Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T06:08:26.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Red Cell Folate and Macrocytosis During Long-Term Anticonvulsant Therapy in Non-Anaemic Mentally Retarded Epileptics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

R. D. Eastham ,
J. Jancar  and
J. D. Cameron
R. D. Eastham
Affiliation:
Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, BS16 1LE
J. Jancar
Affiliation:
Stoke Park Group Hospitals, Bristol, BS16 1QU
J. D. Cameron
Affiliation:
Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, BS16 1LE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In a previous study, macrocytosis was found in non-anaemic mentally retarded epileptic patients treated with anticonvulsants, and a direct relationship was found between drug dose and the degree of macrocytosis, when the sole anticonvulsant given was phenobarbitone (Eastham and Jancar, 1970a and b). An attempt to use the measurement of red cell size to detect folate deficiency during anticonvulsant therapy before the development of overt anaemia was unsuccessful. Following these findings, yeast tablets were given as a natural source of folate to both epileptic and non-epileptic mentally retarded patients, and preliminary results showed that folate deficiency associated with long-term anticonvulsant therapy could be corrected within three months, without increasing either the frequency or the severity of convulsions in epileptic patients (Eastham and Jancar, 1971). Supplementary yeast tablets were therefore given routinely to all epileptic patients on anticonvulsant therapy in the hospital; there were no side effects from this medication.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 126 , Issue 3 , March 1975 , pp. 263 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1975 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Eastham, R. D. & Jancar, J. (1970a) Macrocytosis associated with anticonvulsant therapy. Epilepsia, 11, 275–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eastham, R. D. & Jancar, J. (1970b) Macrocytosis in Down's syndrome and during long-term anticonvulsant therapy. Journal of Clinical Pathology, 23, 296–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eastham, R. D. & Jancar, J. (1971) Epilepsy and folate deficiency. British Medical Journal, iv, 361–2.Google Scholar
Hoffbrand, A. V., Newcombe, , Beverley, F. A. & Mollin, D. L. (1966) Method of assay of red cell folate activity and the value of the assay as a test of folate deficiency. Journal of Clinical Pathology, 19, 17–28.Google Scholar
Howell, A., Mason, A. S., Brown, Edna., Watts, R. W. E., Chanarin, I., McPherson, K. & Ridler, M. A. C. (1973) Red cell size and uric acid in Down's syndrome. Scandinavian Journal of Haematology, 11, 140–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toseland, P. A., Grove, J. & Berry, D. J. (1972) An isothermal GLC determination of the plasma levels of carbamazine, diphenylhydantoin, phenobarbitone and primidone. Clinica Chimica Acta, 38, 321–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.