KLINISCHE ERFAHRUNGEN MIT CLONAZEPAM UNTER BESONDERER BERÜCKSICHTIGUNG PSYCHOMOTORISCHER ANFÄLLE

Abstract

The authors carried out this study on 34 patients with various types of psychomotor epilepsy (idiopathic or symptomatic) resistant to customary treatment. A few of these patients also occasionally had grand mal seizures. The average age of the treated patients was 26 years, and the duration of disease 17 years. Clonazepam (Ro 5-4023) was administered at doses of 2 to 12 mg per day. The main criterion of success of treatment was the reduction of seizures by 50 per cent in the first month, this improvement being maintained. Out of 34 patients 12 showed improvement. Of these 12 patients 7 showed remarkable improvement for 5 months or more, 3 out of these 7 patients had no further epileptic seizures. Furthermore, the authors also carried out investigations on 20 children mainly suffering from myoclonic astatic seizures (Lennox-syndrome). The results were not so good as those obtained by previous investigators, possibly because of the below average doses used. The results of intravenous treatment with clona-zepam were highly satisfactory. Six patients between the ages of 8 and 62 years with various types of status epilepticus were given clonazepam intravenously. A continuous EEG-control was recorded. In the majority of cases good results were obtained within a few minutes. Clonazepam proved to be more effective than diazepam and phenytoin. The results of this investigation can be considered good as the patients chosen for the study were mainly therapy-resistant to standard treatment and had a severe type of epilepsy. Side effects were minimal, mild and did not persist. The authors suggest using clonazepam in patients with various types of psychomotor epilepsy, where customary therapy has failed.