Searches for appropriate studies were made using the following: Cochrane
Neuromuscular Disease Group Register, Medline, Embase and LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Literature on the Health Sciences) together the Chinese Biomedical Retrieval System, the database of the Chinese Cochrane Centre, conference paper databases and checked bibliographies. 10 Chinese journals were searched by hand.
STUDY SELECTION: Randomised controlled trials (RCT) or quasi-randomised controlled trials were included.
DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Two authors decided which trials fitted the inclusion criteria and graded methodological quality independently.
RESULTS: Nine trials of different non-
antiepileptic drugs involving 223 participants were included. Each trial investigated one non-
antiepileptic drug. Two trials tested
baclofen. In one, more people achieved 50% reduction from baseline than with placebo [relative risk (RR), 15.00; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.97-231.84; P 0.05]. In the other, slightly more participants who took
baclofen showed a 75% reduction in attacks on the tenth day compared with
carbamazepine (RR, 2.38; 95% CI, 0.83-6.85; P 0.11). One trial showed no significant difference in reduction in average daily frequency of attacks with
Baclofen compared with Racemic
Baclofen.
Tizanidine was investigated in two trials. In one, the proportion of people with a reduction in the mean number of paroxysms per day increased with
tizanidine compared with placebo (RR, 8.00; 95% CI, 1.21-52.69; P 0.03). In the other, one of five participants improved their visual analogue scale score with
tizanidine and four of six did so having taken
carbamazepine (RR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.05-1.89; P 0.20). One study showed that the improvement in mean values of
pain scores with
tocainide was similar to that of
carbamazepine. In a further trial, more participants improved during the
pimozide than the
carbamazepine period (RR, 1.78; 95% CI, 1.39-2.28). In another, a 0.5% instillation of
proparacaine hydrochloride into the eyes did not produce significantly different results from placebo (RR, 1.06; 95% CI, 0.37-2.99; P 0.92). Finally, there was moderate or marked improvement in a study in seven of nine participants who took
clomipramine and three of nine who took
amitriptyline during a 12-week treatment (RR, 2.33; 95% CI, 0.87-6.27).
CONCLUSIONS: