The effects of anticonvulsants on memory function in epileptic patients: preliminary findings.

Recent studies have indicated that at least one anticonvulsant has a deleterious effect on memory but the evidence for other major anticonvulsants is conflicting. The memory function of 15 newly diagnosed epileptic patients was examined before and after monotherapy with phenytoin, carbamazepine or sodium valproate. In addition, 17 epileptic patients taking phenytoin alone were examined. No effect on memory function after 3 months of treatment with any one of the 3 drugs was found. No correlation was found between the serum phenytoin levels and performance on the memory tests. Whether the above anticonvulsants are entirely free of effect on memory function cannot be decided until a larger group of patients is studied and until different, perhaps more subtle, aspects of memory are examined.