H. Tada, K. Morooka, K. Arimoto
Apr 1, 1991
Citations
2
Influential Citations
32
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Epilepsia
Abstract
Summary: We studied the clinical efficacy of allopurinol as add‐on therapy in 31 patients with intractable epilepsy. When administered for a short time, allopurinol was effective in 17 patients (55%); 8 were seizure‐free, 8 had 75% decrease in seizure frequency, and 1 had >50% decrease. Allopurinol was most effective in patients with localization‐related epilepsy, especially in secondarily generalized tonic‐clonic seizures. Allopurinol was not as effective in patients with Lennox syndrome or West syndrome, or in severe myoclonic epilepsy in infants. When allopurinol was administered > 1 year, its initial effectiveness continued in 8 of 14 patients who exhibited initial improvement. In 2 of the remaining 6 patients, the initial improvement disappeared during the course of treatment but control was regained by increasing the dosage of allopurinol. Mild side effects were observed in 4 patients (13%): drowsiness in 3 and abdominal pain in 1. Allopurinol may be a useful antiepileptic drug (AED), and a double‐blind placebo‐controlled trial should be performed.