Topiramate and visual loss in a patient carrying a Leber hereditary optic neuropathy mutation

Abstract

We describe a 43-year-old patient who experienced visual loss 4 years after beginning antiepileptic therapy with topiramate. Ophthalmological and neurological examinations led to a preliminary diagnosis of bilateral toxic optic neuritis. Mitochondrial genome sequence analysis detected a Leber hereditary optic neuropathy 11778G>A mutation. The possibility that topiramate might favor a conversion disease, alerts physicians to seek a history of blindness in patients undergoing chronic antiepileptic therapy.