[How effective is the treatment schedule in children with infantile spasms?]

A fatal incident during combined anticonvulsive therapy with ACTH and Dexamethason prompted us to reevaluate our treatment results in 19 children suffering from infantile spasms. We followed Doose's recommendation using Clonazepam as a means of first choice. Failing that, than Dexamethason and Primidone was used. A combination of ACTH, Dexamethason and Primidone was administered to patients failing both treatment courses. Our results question the necessity, the tolerance limit and the efficacy of this treatment schedule. Therefore we propose a prospective multicentric study to reinvestigate the therapeutic guideliness for infantile spasms.