Valproic Acid Treatment of Learning Disorder and Severely Epileptiform EEG Without Clinical Seizures

Using a single-patient (n = 1) clinical trial, we studied a 7-year-old boy who presented with unsatisfactory progress in school and whose electroencephalogram had very active independent frontal spike discharges. He had not had clinical seizures. The patient was randomized to receive valproic acid,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child neurology 1996-01, Vol.11 (1), p.41-43
Main Authors: Gordon, Kevin, Bawden, Harry, Camfield, Peter, Mann, Shelley, Orlik, Phyllis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anticonvulsants - administration & dosage
Anticonvulsants - therapeutic use
Child
Electroencephalography
Epilepsy - diagnosis
Epilepsy - drug therapy
Epilepsy - physiopathology
Frontal Lobe - physiopathology
Humans
Learning Disorders - drug therapy
Male
Valproic Acid - therapeutic use
Wechsler Scales
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Using a single-patient (n = 1) clinical trial, we studied a 7-year-old boy who presented with unsatisfactory progress in school and whose electroencephalogram had very active independent frontal spike discharges. He had not had clinical seizures. The patient was randomized to receive valproic acid, 125 mg twice daily, (four periods) or matching placebo (four periods) over 8 weeks. Primary endpoints were the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised Coding subtest and a handwriting sample. Behavior was monitored using teacher's and parent's Conners questionnaires. His score on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised Coding subtest was significantly improved while he was taking valproic acid (P = .03). His electroencephalogram improved from a pretreatment recording of 28 spike discharges per minute to a normal recording while on valproic acid. We conclude that in this patient, valproic acid had a cognitive enhancing effect, probably by reducing epileptiform discharges. (J Child Neurol 1996;11:41-43).
ISSN:0883-0738
1708-8283
DOI:10.1177/088307389601100110