AboutDr. Ravindra Bhaskar Ghooi Expertise I can provide information on drugs and medicines, their actions, uses, interactions and adverse effects. To avoid confusion, generic names of
medicines may please be provided. I am a pharmacologist, having worked
on animal and human pharmacology, and presently I am the Dean of Bilcare Research Academy, where we teach courses on clinical research. We dont work on saturdays and sundays, hence questions reachng me on these days will be replied on Monday, please bear with me.
Question I understand that local anasthetics and certain anti-epiletic drugs are Na+ channel blockers and that local anasthetics cannot be given intravenously since they block sodium channels on the heart.
So why is it that we give anti-epilepitcs such as phenytoin and carbamazepine orally. Do these drugs not act on the heart to cause fatal cardiac dysrhymias?
Thanks for your help.
Thanks.
Answer Hi Alec,
Carbamzepine and phenytoin have different mechanisms of action and have their main effect on the bran. Phenytoin which blocks sodium movements does affect the heart and has been used n the past to control arrhythmias. Its use in cardiology has been discontinued due to the availablity of better drugs.
Ravi Ghooi
