562 https://oamjms.eu/index.php/mjms/index Scientifc Foundation SPIROSKI, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2023 May 23; 11(B):562-564. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2023.11617 eISSN: 1857-9655 Section: B - Clinical Sciences Category: Neurology The Hematology Profles of Adults Afliated with Epilepsy after Receiving Valproic Acid Therapy Christiyan Naydenov* , Ivan Mindov Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Trakia University, Stara Zagora City, Bulgaria Abstract AIM: Epilepsy is a socially signifcant neurological disease spread all over the world. Valproic acid (VPA) is one of the most used antiepileptic drug (AED) for treatment which has some side efects on hematology feld. A nowadays update to the adult safety information is needed. The current aim is to conduct a cross-sectional study and to describe the hematology profle of adults with epilepsy treated by VPA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data collection was done retrospectively and includes characteristics of the subjects such as age, gender, electroencephalography (EEG) fnding, duration of VPA treatment, type of treatment, and hematology profle. We report 50 subjects treated by VPA at least 1 year. RESULTS: The mean age is 46, 4 years, 50% male and 50% female. About 92% were generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Seven percent were partial complex epilepsy. Twenty-four EEG results were abnormal (48%). We found 4 cases (7%) of thrombocytopenia at therapeutic dose and 8 cases (16%) of mild anemia. DISCUSSION: Gender diferences were eliminated by having the same number of participants of each gender. The EEG fndings were almost equally normal and abnormal. Reported drug reactions due to VPA were thrombocytopenia and anemia. Thrombocytopenia requires discontinuation of VPA. Introduction Epilepsy is a chronic paroxysmal disease characterized by a sudden quantitative and/or qualitative disturbance of consciousness, sensibility, motor activity, autonomic functions, and psyche. Seizures occur as a result of hypersynchronous bioelectrical discharges of neurons in the cerebral cortex. Depending on the localization of these changes and their distribution, individual clinical forms difer. Epilepsy is a socially signifcant neurological disease spread all over the world. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a way of graphically recording the electrical potentials of the brain, supporting the diagnose. It is performed with a special device - an electroencephalograph [1]. We determined and grouped the qualitative changes in the EEG, considering as abnormal only the focal or generalized epileptic graph elements such as sharps, spikes, and sharp-and-slow complexes or focuses of theta and delta rhythms. All other changes in the type of oscillations, phase amplitude coupling, phase-to-phase coupling, amplitude-to-amplitude coupling, cross-frequency phase coupling, and inter- hemisphere bands are defned as general non-specifc changes. The normal EEG results are according to the reference values of the software analysis, reported by us earlier [1]. Many side efects of valproic acid (VPA) are related and occur according to the dosage [2]. VPA is one of the most used antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) for treatment as frst line which has some known side efects on hematology feld [3], [4]. A nowadays update to the adult safety information is needed as same as the children are already reported [5]. The aim of current study is to describe the hematology profle during treatment with VPA. Materials and Methods This is a cross-sectional study describing the hematology profle of epilepsy patients during treatment with VPA. Data collection was done retrospectively. The inclusion criteria are adults with epilepsy and use VPA as the AED at least 1 year. We excluded samples of patients with known other reasons for deviations of their hematological status. This study protocol was reviewed and approved by Local Ethics Committee of Trakia University - Stara Zagora city, Bulgaria. Ethical Approval Number: 14 from 02 October 2020. Since 2002 Edited by: Mirko Spiroski Citation: Naydenov C, Mindov I. The Hematology Profles of Adults Afliated with Epilepsy after Receiving Valproic Acid Therapy. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2023 May 23; 11(B):562-564. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2023.11617 Keywords: Adults; Epilepsy; Valproic acid; Hematology profle *Correspondence: Christiyan Naydenov, Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Trakia University, Stara Zagora City, Bulgaria. E-mail: kristiyan.naydenov@trakia-uni.bg Received: 24-Mar-2023 Revised: 26-Apr-2023 Accepted: 22-May-2023 Copyright: © 2023 Christiyan Naydenov, Ivan Mindov Funding: This research did not receive any fnancial support Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist Open Access: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0)