title: Clinical effects of allopurinol on intractable epilepsy.
abstract: 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 greater than 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 greater than 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.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Pediatrics, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morooka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arimoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsuo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000493:Allopurinol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004831:Epilepsies, Myoclonic / Q000188:drug therapy; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004832:Epilepsy, Absence / Q000188:drug therapy; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D013036:Spasms, Infantile / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000493:Allopurinol