Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is one of the most severe forms of childhood epilepsy. This form of catastrophic epilepsy, characterized by several seizure types, represents up to 10% of all childhood epilepsies and onset typically occurs between three and 10 years of age.
In the trial clobazam was shown to be effective in significantly reducing drop seizures, the most debilitating of the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome seizure types, which can result in severe trauma to the brain and body, by 85.3% compared to baseline. Nearly 15% of patients experienced complete elimination of drop seizures during the course of the study though it did not attain statistical significance.
“The prognosis for LGS sufferers is poor so finding effective, less toxic, treatments is essential. These findings are significant because they show the potential of clobazam to reduce the catastrophic impact of LGS for patients in the US,” said Joan Conry, professor of Neurology and Pediatrics in the Department of Neurology at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.