[Pharmacological possibilities of preventing post-traumatic epilepsy]

The period of the so-called "maturation" of the epileptogenic focus creates a potential field for pharmacological prevention of further development of the disease. The author analysed the experimental investigations carried our by himself on the effects of epileptogenic foci and/or diphenylhydantoin on the process of learning, EEG tracings, and histological findings in the brain and internal organs, and believes that prophylactic administration of diphenylhydantoin in moderate therapeutic doses (20 mg daily) and for a relatively short time period (1 year) is associated with a much lower possibility of side effects than the risk of development of post-traumatic epilepsy. A condition of successful prophylaxis is the administration of the drug immediately after trauma since the experimental investigations of the author indicate that starting treatment at the time of epileptogenic focus development in the EEG, even before the appearance of clinical seizures is too late for complete prophylactic or even therapeutic success.