PORTLAND, Ore., March 16 (UPI) -- A large U.S. study reports its preliminary results suggest the anti-seizure drug ethosuximide is the most effective treatment for childhood absence epilepsy.
The National Institutes of Health-funded pediatric epilepsy clinical trial is designed to determine which of three standard treatments is most effective.
The Oregon Health & Science University's Doernbecher Children's Hospital is one of 32 U.S. comprehensive pediatric epilepsy centers to participate in the landmark research.
The hospital's study group compared three medications typically used to treat the non-convulsive seizure syndrome, in which a child will stop whatever he or she is doing and stare for as long as 30 seconds at time.
Prior to the study, there was no definitive evidence on which drug worked best.
"Much of our scientific understanding of childhood epilepsy care today comes from historical experience or studies involving adult patients with related, but not identical, conditions," said Dr. Colin Roberts, Doernbecher's principal investigator for the research. "This study is an important milestone in our understanding of childhood absence epilepsy. Never before have we been able to document in such a comprehensive, scientific fashion the best options to treat children with this condition."
The preliminary results of the research, led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.
