A long-term follow-up of zonisamide monotherapy.

Objectives: Several studies have reported the safety and efficacy of zonisamide monotherapy, but studies on its long-term outcomes are limited. This chart review was conducted to evaluate the long-term outcomes of zonisamide monotherapy.

Methods: The charts were reviewed for 77 patients treated with zonisamide as monotherapy for 6-180 months between May 1985 and December 2003.

Classification criteria of epileptic seizures and syndromes.

Care must be exercised not to intermingle with classification of seizures and classification of epilepsies in an inconsistent fashion. Criteria for each class must be defined as clearly as possible, and these criteria must be those which are necessary for classifying any given case. The international classification first proposed by the ILAE in 1970 was an attempt to distinguish seizures from epilepsies; the seizure types defined in the 2001 diagnostic scheme are conceptually akin to the syndromes in the 1989 classification in the sense that they imply etiological, therapeutic, and prognostic significance.

Intercountry exchange and support within the region.

The foundation of the Asian and Oceanian Epilepsy Organization dates back to the 25th Annual Meeting of the Japan Epilepsy Society held in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1991, to which roughly a dozen epilepsy specialists were invited from neighboring countries. The objectives of this volunteers' group were to strengthen kinship among medical professionals involved in epilepsy in the region. Since then, visitors to the National Epilepsy Center in Shizuoka, some for weeks and some for months or years, joined us to establish in-service training.

Review of zonisamide development in Japan.

Zonisamide is a benzisoxazole-based compound first synthesized in the early 1970s by the research laboratories of Dainippon Pharmaceutical Company in Osaka, Japan. Identified as an anticonvulsant during exploratory research, zonisamide has since been characterized as having broad-spectrum antiepilepsy and neuroprotective effects. Early clinical studies in Japan demonstrated that zonisamide has a long elimination half-life and is well tolerated; Phase II and III clinical trials established the drug's efficacy and safety for the treatment of partial and generalized seizures.