Effects of ketamine in epilepsy.

Ketamine, a rapid-acting general anesthetic, was administered intravenously to 26 epileptics. The effects of ketamine on the patients' clinical seizures and electroencephalograms were compared with similar periods during alert and sleep states. Epileptic discharges were present in the alert electroencephalogram of 17 (65 percent) of the patients. Epileptic discharges were precipitated or aggravated by sleep in 15 patients (58 percent) and by ketamine in eight patients (31 percent). No siezures were recorded during ketamine anesthesia. Ketamine neither precipitates nor aggravates seizures and is less effective than natural sleep as an activator of epileptic discharges.