Abstract
Zonisamide (ZNS), a new antiepileptic drug developed in Japan, is being used as the
initial treatment of West syndrome in some Japanese institutes. The reported response
rate varied from 20 to 38%. The cryptogenic patients showed a better response than
the symptomatic patients. A striking finding was that the response to ZNS is rapid;
most of the children who responded did so within 1–2 weeks of starting ZNS at a dose
of 4–8 mg/kg/day. No serious side effects have been reported so far. ZNS may be both effective
and well tolerated for the initial treatment of selected patients with West syndrome.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
June 24,
2001
Received in revised form:
June 21,
2001
Received:
May 31,
2001
Identification
Copyright
© 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
