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Table 5 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.[28] Löscher et al.[26]Rieck et al.[27] Trepanier et al.[34] Podell et al.[33] Pearce[32]
AED evaluated Potassium bromide
2 nd AED - PB (15 dogs) or Primidone (4 dogs) PB (8 dogs) or Primidone (4 dogs) PB or Primidone PB (23 dogs) PB (10 dogs)
3 rd AED - - - - - -
4 th AED - - - - - -
No of dogs 23 19 44 122 37 10
Period of treatment (months) Approx. 6 mean, 21; range, 7-61 mean, 7.3 ± 0.6 mean, 14.2 +/− 4.7 mean, 15; range, 4-33 median, 7; mean 7.8
Dose of AED(s) (mg/kg) mean, 30.6; range, 26–35 PO BID PBr: 17–58 PO SID; PBr: 40–60 PO SID; Doses were NA but adjusted according to the therapeutic serum levels and clinical response PBr: mean, 20.75; range, 13–40 PO BID; PB: NA PBr: 22 PO SID (dose increases occurred);
   PB and Primidone: NA but kept at maximum therapeutic doses PB: 6–17 PO SID;    PB: median, 3.3; mean, 3.8 PO BID (dose was reduced by a mean of 50% in 7/10 dogs during the PBr treatment)
    Primidone: 50–70 PO SID    
Pre-treatment SF (seizures/month) mean, 5.4 +/mean, 14.2 +/−9.7 (recorded over a period of at least 6 weeks) NA (but recorded over period of mean, 31; range, 8–79 m) median, 3 (recorded over a period of mean 1.7 years) NA mean, 14.1 +/− 11.6 (recorded over a period of 0–12 m) median, 27; mean 25; range 3–45 (recorded over a period of 5–72 m)
Post-treatment SF (seizures/month) mean, 1.2 +/− 2.4 NA median, 1.9 - mean, 6.6 +/− 5.7 NA
No of dogs that were failures 3/23 (13%) 6/19 (32%) 5/12 (42%) - - 3/10 (30%)
No of dogs with >0% - <50% reduction in SF 1/23 (4%) 2/19 (10%) 2/12 (16%) - 6/23 (26%) -
No of dogs with ≥50% - <100% reduction in SF 5/23 (22%) 7/19 (37%) 5/12 (42%) 88/122 (72%) 11/23 (48%) 3/10 (30%)
No of dogs with 100% reduction in SF 12/23 (52%) 4/19 (21%) - - 6/23 (26%) 4/10 (40%)
No of dogs with >30% reduction in SF - 17/19 (89%) 7/12 (32%) 88/122 (72%) 23/23 (100%) 7/10 (70%)
95% CI successfully treated cases 57% - 91% 36% - 80% 27% - 57% 64% - 80% 60% - 88% 42% - 98%
Overall evidence for/against recommending the use of an AED Fair evidence for recommending the use of potassium bromide as a monotherapy AED.
Insufficient evidence for recommending the use of potassium bromide as an adjunct 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).
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BMC Veterinary Research

ISSN: 1746-6148

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