This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Tsuji, T. Articles by Watanabe, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tsuji, T. Articles by Watanabe, K. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Hazardous Substances DB VALPROIC ACID Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Current Treatment of West Syndrome in Japan

Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan, ttsuji{at}med.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Akihisa Okumura, MD

Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

Hiroshi Ozawa, MD

Department of Pediatrics, Shimada Center for Rehabilitation and Neurodevelopment Intervention, Tama-city Japan

Masatoshi Ito, MD

Department of Pediatrics, Shiga Medical Center for Children, Moriyama, Japan

Kazuyoshi Watanabe, MD

Department of Pediatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan, Faculty of Medical Welfare, Aichi Shukutoku University, Nagoya, Japan

About 10 years have passed since a previous survey on the treatment of West syndrome in Japan. To elucidate current practice, a questionnaire was sent to 113 institutes. It included (1) the drugs used for the treatment, (2) their dosage, and (3) the dosage and the schedule of adrenocorticotropic hormone therapy. Response rate was 51.3%. Adrenocorticotropic hormone, valproic acid, vitamin B₆, and zonisamide were frequently used. Vitamin B₆ was used most frequently as the first-choice drug followed by valproic acid, zonisamide, and adrenocorticotropic hormone. The most frequently used dose of synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone-Z was 0.0125 mg/kg/d. Adrenocorticotropic hormone was administered every day for 2 weeks and then tapered off in more than 80% of the institutes. Although therapeutic strategy and drug usage have not changed largely during these 10 years, 2 alterations were observed: an increased use of zonisamide and a shortened duration of adrenocorticotropic hormone therapy.

Key Words: West syndrome • adrenocorticotropic hormone

Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 22, No. 5, 560-564 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0883073807302606


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?