Breath holding spells (BHS) is a type of syncope in children , most commonly encontered in the early years of life. Although these athacks don't damage the brain , if these are frequent or prolonged cause , parents frighten , so physician should intervent. In this study we evaluated clinical efficacy of piracetam on B.H.S of children in Mashhad Ghaem Hospital during 2001-2002.

In this double blind placebo control study , piracetam or placebo on a randomized basis was administered to children with 40 mg/kg/day in 2 divided doses for 2 months. From the 41 children that were enrolled , 21 cases received piracetam and 20 cases received placebo. Parents denoted the numbers of spells two months before and two months after taking drug.

Control of breath holding spells were observed in 90.5% of patients in the group taking piracetam as compared with 40% in the group taking placebo (P = 0.002). Of the all patients 10 cases had iron deficiency anemia so they had taken elemental Fe too. The side effects were the same in these two groups.

           The results of this study indicated that piracetam was efficient for the treatment of children with B.H.S without greater incidence adverse effects than placebo.