Side effects of Dilantin, an anti-epileptic or anticonvulsant drug, have been associated with cerebellar atrophy among other serious injuries and complications.

Cerebellar atrophy is the degeneration of the cerebellum, a part of the brain responsible for functions such as coordination, speech, and movement. Studies have shown that long-term use of Dilantin is associated with the risks for developing cerebellar atrophy.

Side Effects of Dilantin

Any damage to the cerebellum may affect a person’s coordination and movement. Cerebellar atrophy is a condition that results because of damage to the cerebellum. What occurs is that this part of the brain begins to lose neurons and neural pathways that send electrical signals between one another. With a lack of neurons and their pathways, cerebral atrophy results.

In addition to cerebral atrophy being one of the side effects of Dilantin, there are many other different causes to its development. Some of these causes may include multiple sclerosis, tumors, stroke, and other cerebellar disorders. Brain atrophy may also result from the exposure to ethanol.

Dilantin, an anticonvulsant medication, is prescribed to treat seizures and epilepsy. Epilepsy is a disorder in which nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed; this causes seizures.

Brain atrophy can be general, a term marking the loss of neurons and their neural pathways, or brain atrophy can be focal, marking a specific location in the brain and that part of the brain’s function.

Cerebral Atrophy and Other Dilantin Complications

Cerebellar atrophy is focal, and it marks the loss of neurons and pathways within the cerebellum, the part of the brain that sits behind the brain stem and below the cerebrum. Loss of brain function in the cerebrum can cause the loss of speech, posture, balance, and coordination. The cerebellum functions to regulate and monitor smooth voluntary movements.

Symptoms of someone who may have developed cerebellar atrophy include: memory loss; slow and slurred speech; nystagmus, or eyes that move in a small and rapid manner; movements in the arms or legs that are unsteady, slow, and jerky; and a lurching walk.

Side effects of Dilantin may also include some of the following: unwanted hair growth, overgrowth of gums, headache, slurred speech, slowed thinking, confusion, and difficulty falling and staying asleep.

Published studies have linked cerebellar atrophy to prolonged use of Dilantin. While recovery is possible soon after an individual begins taking Dilantin, in some cases irreversible brain atrophy may result after long-term use of the medication.

In a study published in the Seizure European Journal of Epilepsy, researchers correlated long-term use of Dilantin to cerebellar atrophy. The study looked at a patient’s length of time of Dilantin use and how that correlated to the development of cerebellar atrophy.

The results of the study discovered that after evaluating 56 patients (33 women) for the correlation of the drug to cerebellar atrophy, the found that the condition was detected in 20 (35.7 percent) of them. The study concluded on the drug’s long-term use to cerebellar atrophy development.

Manufacturers of drugs like Dilantin have a legal responsibility in providing adequate and informative warnings to a drug’s side effects in accordance with federal and state regulations.