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Imipramine in Epilepsy
Gerhard H. Fromm, MD;
Constantino Y. Amores, MD;
William Thies, PhD
Arch Neurol. 1972;27(3):198-204.
Abstract
Experiments with cats showed that imipramine hydrochloride (Tofranil) resembled trimethadione (Tridione) and ethosuximide (Zarontin) in its ability to depress the corticofugal inhibition of afferent activity in the spinal trigeminal nucleus. Imipramine was, therefore, given to a group of 20 patients with petit mal and minor motor seizures who had failed to respond to conventional anticonvulsant medications or had become refractory to them. Fifteen patients had a good initial response to 1 to 3 mg/kg of imipramine hydrochloride, and six of them have continued to show a significant therapeutic response for more than one year. Imipramine thus appears to have the anticonvulsant effect predicted by our experimental data. Our observations suggest that the ability to depress cortical inhibitory pathways is an important feature of drugs that prevent minor seizures.
Author Affiliations
Pittsburgh
From the Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Footnotes
Accepted for publication May 18, 1972.
Read in part at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society, New York, Dec 3, 1970, and at the Third Panamerican Congress of Neurology, São Paulo, Brazil, Oct 13, 1971.
Reprint requests to Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh 15213 (Dr. Fromm).
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