Sodium valproate in the treatment of Sydenham's chorea.

摘要

Sir,Sydenham's chorea is a movement disorder with no universally accepted effective drug therapy for its rapid control. We conducted this prospective study to validate efficacy and safety of sodium valproate's in it. The study was conducted over a period of 4 years in the department of Pediatrics, NRS Medical College, Kolkata. The diagnosis was clinical after exclusion of all other known causes of chorea. Ten patients fulfilled the inclusion criterion (7 girls and 3 boys with mean age of 9.7 years. They were given sodium valproate at a dose of 20 mg/ kg/day in 2 or 3 divided doses. If any patient was already on any drug for the treatment of chorea, it was stopped for a week and valproate therapy was started thereafter. A blinded observer assessed all the children daily till they were discharged from the hospital. Response to treatment was assessed clinically. 'Recovery' was defined as total absence of chorea. Any other clinical improvement short of total absence of chorea, patients responding within 96 hours of commencement of therapy were considered as "incomplete recovery" and 'rapid responders' respectively . Treatment was continued for 12 weeks in all patients who responded to valproate therapy and was withdrawn gradually over a week. Follow up of the patients was done for one year to see for relapse of chorea and to monitor for any side effect.