Abstract
Immediate EEG changes after intravenous administration of clonazepam and a correlation between the EEG changes and the effect of oral administration of the drug were studied in 21 children with minor seizures whose interictal EEG showed a paroxysmal abnormality. In 13 cases of infantile spasms whose EEG showed hypsarhythmia, paroxysmal discharges were completely or remarkably suppressed in 4 cases, partially suppressed in 3 cases, but not improved in 6 cases. Suppression bursts pattern was less improved. In 5 cases of Lennox syndrome, paroxysmal discharges were markedly improved in 3 cases. In a case of petit mal absence, parxoxysmal discharges were completely suppressed. In all 5 cases whose EEGs were completely improved, paroxysmal discharges reappeared 7 to 30 min after the intravenous injection. In 2 out of the 5 cases, paroxysmal discharges became severer at reappearance than before the injection. Among 12 cases whose EEG showed an improvement after the intravenous injection, their clinical seizures were improved in 9 cases, but the clinical effect was mostly transient. In the majority of the cases whose EEGs were not improved, no clinical effect was observed. There was a highly significaant correlation between immediate EEG changes and clinical effect of clonazepam (p<0.02 by the chisquare test).
