TWO NEW DRUGS IN EPILEPSY THERAPY

Two new drugs increase the range and the effectiveness of the control of epileptic seizures.

Trimethyloxazolidine dione (tridione) used alone has proved wonderfully effective in controlling seizures of the petit mal triad; petit mal (pykno-epilepsy), myoclonic jerks and akinetic seizures. In contrast, grand mal convulsions were not helped or were made worse. Psychomotor seizures were occasionally aided by tridione combined with an anticonvulsant drug.

Methyl phenyl ethyl hydantoin (mesantoin) used in 35 patients, did not help petit mal, but in approximately one-third of patients subject to frequent major seizures it has replaced diphenyl hydantoin (dilantin) with profit, the benefit resulted either from a reduction in the frequency of convulsions or from an absence of the unpleasant side effects of either muscular incoordination or gum hypertrophy. Generalized rash or somnolence were side effects which limited the usefulness of the drug in many patients.