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Table 3 Details of numbers of dogs, pre- and post- treatment seizure frequency, period of treatment, doses of AED(s), seizure frequency reduction/response after the initiation of treatment and efficacy statements for each study

From: Treatment in canine epilepsy – a systematic review

References Boothe et al.[11] Schwartz-Porsche et al.[15] Löscher et al.[26]Rieck et al.[27] Morton et al.[31] Heynold et al.[36] Tipold et al.[14]
AED evaluated     Phenobarbital   
2 nd AED - - - - - -
3 rd AED - - - - - -
4 th AED - - - - - -
No of dogs 20 15 44 7 37 After exclusion: 88
       Before exclusion: 102
Period of treatment (months) approx. 6 mean 15; range 7.3-32 mean 5.9 +/−0.4 Unclear mean 50.4; range 8-18 5
Dose of AED(s) (mg/kg) mean 4.11; range 3.9-4.9 PO BID Range 5–17 PO SID mean 6; range 4–13 PO SID median 180; mean 283; range 60–900 PO SID mean 2.5 PO BID 2-6 PO BID
Pre-treatment SF (seizures/month) mean 4.4 +/− 6.3 (recorded over a period of at least 6 weeks) NA mean 1.71 (recorded over a period of 9 m) median 12; mean 14.3; range 4–28 (period not reported) mean 8 seizures in total (period not reported) 2.4
Post-treatment SF (seizures/month) mean 0.4 +/− 0.9 NA mean 0.59 median 1; mean 1; range 0-4 mean 0.9 1.1
No of dogs that were failures - 3/15 (20%) 12/44 (27%) 1/7 (14%) 10/37 (27%) -
No of dogs with >0% - <50% reduction in SF 2/20 (10%) - - 3/7 (43%) - -
No of dogs with ≥50% - <100% reduction in SF 1/20 (5%) 6/15 (40%) 28/44 (64%) - 16/37 (43%) After exclusion: 22/88 (25%)
       Before exclusion: 25/102 (24%)
No of dogs with 100% reduction in SF 17/20 (85%) 6/15 (40%) 9/44 (20%) 3/7 (43%) 11/37 (30%) After exclusion: 51/88 (51%)
       Before exclusion: 56/102 (55%)
No of dogs with >30% reduction in SF - 12/15 (80%) 37/44 (84%) 4/7 (57%) 27/37 (73%) -
95% CI successfully treated cases 77% - 100% 60% - 100% 73% - 95% 6% - 80% 59% - 87% After exclusion: 75% - 91%
       Before exclusion: 71% - 87%
Overall evidence for/against recommending the use of an AED Good evidence for recommending the use of phenobarbital as a monotherapy AED.
  1. AED(s), anti-epileptic drug(s); BID, bis in die (twice daily); Chloraz, Chlorazepate; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; CL, confidence level; Diaz, Diazepam; Gaba, Gabapentin; IE, idiopathic epilepsy; LEV, Levetiracetam; m, month(s); NA, Not Available; PB, phenobarbital; PBr, potassium bromide; PO, per os; SF, seizure frequency; SID, semel in die (once daily); TID, ter in die (three times daily); TPM, Topiramate; w, week(s).
  2. The evaluated AED is the one whose efficacy was assessed. This AED was administered and evaluated either as a monotherapy agent in previously untreated animals or as a monotherapy after an alteration in its dose or as a new AED in previously treated, with other AED(s), animals.
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BMC Veterinary Research

ISSN: 1746-6148

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