Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42688418›Full record

ArticleClinical case reports2026

Persistent Post-Traumatic Brain Injury Hiccups Unresponsive to Standard Agents: Resolution Associated With Levetiracetam Therapy.

Rostom Karajeh, Ranya Abu Khalaf, Mostafa Ibraheem Abo Alrob, Saif Khaled Abdalhadi Azzam, Youssef Abdelqader Alsaeed

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical case reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Rostom KarajehDepartment of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Palestinian Red Crescent Society Hebron Palestine.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3984-3038
Ranya Abu KhalafDepartment of Clinical Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Palestine Polytechnic University Hebron Palestine.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9665-0641
Mostafa Ibraheem Abo AlrobDepartment of Clinical Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Palestine Polytechnic University Hebron Palestine.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6833-5313
Saif Khaled Abdalhadi AzzamDepartment of Clinical Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Palestine Polytechnic University Hebron Palestine.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6465-7418
Youssef Abdelqader AlsaeedDepartment of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Palestinian Red Crescent Society Hebron Palestine.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5225-145X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Post-traumatic hiccups are an uncommon but distressing complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI), often resistant to conventional pharmacological agents, and the underlying mechanism may involve central neurological disruption of inhibitory pathways rather than gastrointestinal or metabolic aetiologies. We report a male patient in his early 30s who developed refractory hiccups following moderate TBI sustained in a high-impact motor vehicle collision; standard agents including chlorpromazine, metoclopramide, and haloperidol provided no meaningful relief after 48 h of combined treatment. Intravenous levetiracetam (1000 mg loading dose followed by 500 mg every 12 h) was initiated on hospital Day 6, which was followed by complete resolution of hiccups within 8 h; the patient was discharged on hospital Day 7 without recurrence and remained symptom-free at two-week outpatient follow-up. This case highlights levetiracetam as a promising rescue therapy for post-TBI hiccups refractory to conventional agents, possibly by modulating aberrant central neural circuitry, and further prospective studies are warranted to establish standardized treatment protocols for this challenging and underrecognised condition.

Indexed as

central nervous systemhiccupslevetiracetamrefractory hiccupssingultustraumatic brain injury

Identifiers

PMID42688418
PMCPMC13535167

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.