[Clinico-electroencephalographic observations in epileptic patients during long-term treatment with benzonal]

Benzonal was given to 52 epileptics. In 50 cases the duration of treatment ranged from 3 months to 7 years (mean 18 months) in doses of 100-500 mg daily, in 2 cases it had to be withdrawn after a short-term treatment because of intolerance. In all cases the drug was given together with other anticonvulsants: hydantoin, derivatives, mysodin, Tegretol, pheneturid or Ospolot in place of previously administered phenobarbital. It was found that benzonal reduced significantly the frequency of partial simple seizures (in 6 out of 20 cases) and grand mal seizures (in 24 out of 34 cases), while its action on the partial complex seizures was much weaker (improvement in only 7 out of 20 cases). The drug was usually well tolerated, side effects of greater intensity developed in 2 cases only, transient somnolence was observed in another 6 cases. In EEG records a slight favourable effect was exerted on pathological background activity with absent effect in focal changes and increase of seizure activity. The authors believe that in view of its favourable clinical action and good tolerance the drug may be widely used in properly selected cases of epilepsy.