Tall gastrodis tuber combined with antiepileptic drugs repairs abnormal perfusion foci in focal epilepsy

• Published in: Neural regeneration research Vol. 8; no. 3; pp. 208 - 217
• Main Authors: Wang, Weimin, Fan, Zhenyu, Zhang, Yongqin, Yang, Yuxia, Liu, Yaqing, Dang, Xiaoli, Song, Wenjun, Wu, Yinping, Ye, Jiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd 25.01.2013; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Epilepsy Center, Second Hospital, Lanzhou University, Gansu Provincial Center for Prevention and Treatment of Epilepsy, Lanzhou 730030,Gansu Province, China; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd
• Subjects: Acids; Atrophy; Care and treatment; Chinese medicine; Convulsions & seizures; CT imaging; Drugs; Electroencephalography; Epilepsy; Health aspects; Medicine, Chinese; Neural networks; Observations; Research and Report : Traditional Chinese Medicine and Neural Regeneration; Traumatic brain injury; 单光子发射; 块茎; 异常; 抗癫痫; 灌注; 维修; 药物控制; 计算机断层扫描; grant-supported paper; antiepileptic drugs; neuoregeneration; single photon emission computed tomography; photographs-containing paper; traditional Chinese medicine; focal epilepsy; neuroimaging; long-term vigilance-controlled electroencephalogram; brain injury; neural regeneration; abnormal perfusion focus; region of interest; combination therapy; tall gastrodis tuber; long-term vigilance-contro
• ISSN: 1673-5374; 1876-7958
• DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.03.002

One hundred patients with focal epilepsy were recruited for the present study and their seizures controlled with antiepileptic drugs. The patients then orally received a capsule of tall gastrodis tuber powder, a traditional Chinese drug, and underwent single photon emission computed tomography, long-term electroencephalogram, and CT/MRI. Blood drug levels were monitored throughout the study. Before treatment with tall gastrodis tuber, 35 of the 100 cases had abnormal CT/MRI scans; 79 cases had abnormal single photon emission computed tomography images; 86 cases had abnormal electroencephalogram; and a total of 146 abnormal perfusion foci were observed across the 100 subjects. After treatment, the number of patients with normal single photon emission computed tomography images increased by 12; normal electroencephalogram was observed in an additional 27 cases and the number of patients with epileptiform discharge decreased by 29 （34% of 86）; the total number of abnormal perfusion foci decreased by 52 （36%） and changes in abnormal loci were visible in 65 patients. These changes indicate that the administration of tall gastrodis tuber in combination with antiepileptic drugs repairs abnormal perfusion foci in patients with focal epilepsy Our results demonstrate that traditional Chinese drugs can repair abnormal perfusion foci and, as such, are a promising new pathway in the treatment of focal epilepsy.