ACTIVATION OF SEIZURES AND ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHIC DISTURBANCES IN EPILEPTIC AND IN CONTROL SUBJECTS WITH "METRAZOL"

Abstract

ANALYSIS of types of epileptic seizures is sometimes difficult, and often uncertain, owing to infrequent opportunities for the observation of the attacks under conditions which permit an accurate description of their manner of onset and pattern of progression. Hyperventilation has long been used as a simple and reliable method of inducing attacks in certain patients (especially those with idiopathic petit mal epilepsy); but this method is not of general value, since it induces seizures only in about 10 to 30 per cent of unselected epileptic patients. The pitressin hydration regimen of McQuarrie has been found more successful for the controlled induction of seizures, but it has the disadvantage of being a prolonged (twenty-four to forty-eight hours), disagreeable and often painful procedure. More important, when a seizure does occur, its onset is frequently missed because its time of occurrence is unpredictable, Alcohol, which may also induce seizure in certain patients, is