THE EFFECT OF IBUPROFEN ON INTRACTABLE EPILEPTIC ATTACKS IN CHILDREN

Background and It seems that during seizures special inflammatory processes remain in the epileptic tissues and can induce still another attack. Based on this hypothesis many studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on controlling seizures and have obtained different results. so we decided to perform this research. Therefore the present research was conducted to investigate the effect of ibuprofen on controlling intractable epileptic attacks in children. Methods and Materials: This quasi-experimental double-blind study was conducted in 2006-2007 on 30 patients (3-13 years old) with intractable epilepsy. The patients were observed for one month; then they were given ibuprofen syrup (30 mg/k/day divided into 3 doses) for two months; taking ibuprofen syrup was paused for one month; placebo was given for two months with a similar dosage. Patients simultaneously received their previous anticonvulsant drugs during the study period. In each stage the frequency duration and probable complications of each attack were recorded. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS using paired t-test and chi-square. Patients’ mean age and mean seizures onset age were 7.23±3.22 and 2.73±2.43 years respectively. Partial complex epilepsy occurred in 13 cases (43.3%) and 17 patients (56.7%) experienced myoclonic epilepsy. Ibuprofen decreased frequency of attacks in 8 cases (26.7%) and even stopped them in 4 cases. However placebo just decreased attacks in 4 cases (13.3%) but the observed difference was not statistically significant (P=0.434). Based on the findings there was no statistically difference between effects of Ibuprofen and placebo on controlling epileptic attacks.