Addition of Pyridoxine to Prednisolone in the Treatment of Infantile Spasms: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Infantile spasms constitute a unique age specific epilepsy syndrome of infancy, characterized by epileptic spasms often accompanied by neurodevelopmental regression and an EEG finding of hypsarrhythmia. When all 3 components are present, the eponym "West syndrome" is commonly used. West syndrome is a catastrophic epileptic encephalopathy. It does not respond well to standard anti-epileptic drugs. Hormonal therapy is the mainstay in the treatment of infantile spasms. This includes adreno-cortico trophic hormone (ACTH) and oral steroids. Variable dose of prednisolone used in the treatment. Oral prednisolone used in usual dose (2mg/kg) has been shown to be less effective as compared to ACTH. High dose prednisolone (4mg/kg) has been used in the treatment of infantile spasms, which has been shown to be as effective as ACTH. Pyridoxine has been used as first line treatment in Japan, however there is paucity of data on the efficacy of combination of pyridoxine with hormonal therapy. There are no studies comparing add on pyridoxine with high prednisolone versus high dose prednisolone alone in the treatment of infantile spasms. Therefore the study has been planned to see whether the addition of pyridoxine with high dose prednisolone in the treatment of infantile spasms improves the efficacy in terms of spasm cessation.