Clinical Analysis Of Intravenous Depakine Used In Hospitalized Children With Convulsions

Purpose: The emergency treatment of convulsions is important in clinical practices , in particular the therapy of status epilepticus and series of seizures. Antiepileptic drugs for this condition should be easy to use, show rapid action, have a long-lasting antiepileptic effect, and have minimal side effects. Unfortunately, none of the presently available medications such as phenytoin and barbiturates seems to have all of these four properties. Intravenous Depakine became available some years ago and its safety and efficacy have been certified. The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of intravenous Depakine used in hospitalized children with convulsions. Methods: We retrospectively report 141 hospitalized children with convulsions who received standardized dosage of intravenous Depakine, with the loading dosage of 10 - 15mg/kg,followed by a continuous infusion of 0.9-1.6mg/kg/h maintenance dosage. And analyse the therapeutic effect between different types .different diseases and side effects.Results: Seizures were fully controlled in 53 patients of 141 convulsive patients(37.6%), 50 of 125 epileptic(40.0%),and 41 of 68 patients with generalized seizures(60.3%). Seizure frequency was reduced by more than 50% in 117 patients of all 141 convulsive patients(83.0%),104 of 125 epilepric(83.2%),and 63 of 68 patientswith generalized seizures(92.6%).Serious side effects were not documented in any patient. In particular there was no evidence of sedation, cardiorespiratory disturbances and hypotension. Mild side effects occurred in two cases.Conclusions: The intravenous application of Depakine seems to be an easy-to-use, safe and efficient therapy in all convulsion emergency situations, especially for generalized seizures. Further controlled studies have to be performed in the future.