Abstract
Ethosuximide and methsuximide, both members of the succinimide family, are applied as anticonvulsant drugs. Here we review their field of application in epilepsy treatment. Ethosuximide has been extensively used in the treatment of children and adolescents with absence seizures and is the optimal initial empiric monotherapy for this indication, together with valproic acid. When other first-line treatments fail, ethosuximide can be an add-on therapy for epilepsy with juvenile myoclonic seizures and myoclonic astatic seizures. Gastrointestinal and central nervous system side-effects are common, particularly at treatment initiation, while dose independent inhibition of hematopoiesis or severe rashes are rare. Methsuximide, less commonly used for treatment of complicated absence seizures in both children and adults, has a worse side-effect profile. In the following, we review their field of application in epilepsy treatment.
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Tountopoulou, M., Kaindl, A.M. (2020). Anti-convulsant Agents: Ethosuximide and Methsuximide. In: Riederer, P., Laux, G., Mulsant, B., Le, W., Nagatsu, T. (eds) NeuroPsychopharmacotherapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56015-1_275-1
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