COMPARISON OF LACOSAMIDE VERSUS LEVODOPA IN THE TREATMENT OF RESTLESS LEGS SYNDROME IN HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: To compare Lacosamide and Levodopa for treating restless-legs-syndrome in hemodialysis patients in terms of mean change of International Restless Leg Syndrome (IRLS) score.

Methods: It was a Randomize control trail done at Department of Medicine & Nephrology Department of Mayo hospital, Lahore from April 2019 to March 2020. After taking approval from institutional-Review-board (IRB) of the King Edward Medical University (KEMU), sixty patients coming to hemodialysis unit of Mayo Hospital, Lahore and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled for study. We used lottery method and randomly divided them in to two groups that is   Group-A: Lacosamide (50 mg) given at bedtime. (30 cases) and Group-B: Levodopa (110 mg) given daily 2 hours before bedtime (30 cases). Treatment was continued for 4 weeks. We calculated IRLS score at start of study and four week after treatment and any Change  from baseline was calculated for every patient.  That difference of –IRLS score documented on the attached Performa along with demographic details about patient.

Results: This study showed that after 4 weeks of treatment there was not much difference   seen in International Restless Leg Syndrome score in each treatment groups. i.e. [Pre-Treatment (Lacosamide: 20.80±4.78 vs. Levodopa: 22.60±4.66), Post Treatment (Lacosamide: 14.20±2.89 vs. Levodopa: 15.73±3.58), Mean change of score (Lacosamide: 7.10±4.99 vs. Levodopa: 6.86±6.63 . p - Value = 0.878)

Conclusion: This trial concludes  that Levodpoa and Lacosamide were equally good in treating Restless-Legs-Syndrome among patients who are on Hemodialysis.

Key words: Restless legs syndrome, Hemodialysis, Lacosamide, Levodopa.