Evaluation of L-arginine Effects on Refractory Seizures in Epileptic Patients

epilepsy is one of the common neurological disorders and approximately 0.5-1% of populations suffers from it. Unfortunately, despite of treatment by antiepileptic drugs, between 20-30% of patients cannot be controlled completely. There are a lot of supplementarytherapiesfor thisgroupof patientsand in thisstudy,L-argininewas used as an additional therapy in refractory epileptic patients. Two groupsof epilepticpatients(n=21)were selectedrandomly.Group1 received lactose as a placebo, and group 2 received L-arginine (twofold of daily need) as a drug for three months.We used a standard questionnairefor evaluatingthe effect of L-arginine on the quality of life before and after the study. we did not find significant change in the quality of life of patients after using Larginine, but the epileptic attacks decreased in L-arginine group significantly. L-arginine therapy is safe and can decrease the rate of seizure attacks in refractory epileptic patients, and can be an alternative of ketogenic diets.