Drugs indicated for mitochondrial dysfunction as treatments for acute encephalopathy with onset of febrile convulsive status epileptics

Abstract

We studied the efficacy of drugs indicated for mitochondrial dysfunction in the treatment of 21 patients with acute encephalopathy with onset of febrile convulsive status epilepticus at our hospital from January 2006 to December 2014. Among them, 11 patients had been treated with a mitochondrial drug cocktail consisting of vitamin B1, vitamin C, biotin, vitamin E, coenzyme Q10, and l-carnitine (prescription group) and 10 patients were not treated with the cocktail (non-prescription group). We retrospectively reviewed age, trigger, clinical form, treatment start time, and sequelae. Clinical form was classified into a biphasic group presenting acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) and a monophasic group. Sequelae were classified as (A) no sequelae group or (B) sequelae group, and differences in the interval between diagnosis and treatment were also evaluated. The sequelae were not different between the mitochondrial drug cocktail prescription and non-prescription groups, but significantly better in the group administered the mitochondrial drug cocktail within 24h (P=0.035). We expect that early treatment with a mitochondrial drug cocktail could prevent sequelae in acute encephalopathy with onset of febrile convulsive status epilepticus.

Keywords: AESD; Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion; Encephalopathy; Febrile convulsive status epilepticus; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial drug cocktail.