Cargando…

Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children

OBJECTIVE: One-third of epilepsy of children is refractory, and this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in the treatment of refractory epilepsy of children. MATERIALS & METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, seizures frequency a...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Razieh, Razieh, SHAFIEI, Alireza, DEHGHANI FIROUZABADI, Fatemah, FATHI, Ali
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9047840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35497099
http://dx.doi.org/10.22037/ijcn.v15i4.29028
_version_ 1784695810477260800
author Razieh, Razieh
SHAFIEI, Alireza
DEHGHANI FIROUZABADI, Fatemah
FATHI, Ali
author_facet Razieh, Razieh
SHAFIEI, Alireza
DEHGHANI FIROUZABADI, Fatemah
FATHI, Ali
author_sort Razieh, Razieh
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: One-third of epilepsy of children is refractory, and this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in the treatment of refractory epilepsy of children. MATERIALS & METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, seizures frequency and side effects of 314 children aged 1-14 years with refractory epilepsy were referred to the Pediatric Neurology Clinic of Shahid Sadoughi Medical Sciences University, Yazd, Iran, and treated with levetiracetam for six months, were evaluated. RESULTS: We evaluated 142 girls and 172 boys with a mean age of 6.78±2.12 years. At the end of six months of treatment with levetiracetam, 20% became seizure-free, 28% had more than 50% decrease in seizure frequency, 38% did not have a notable change in seizure frequency, and 14% experienced an increase in seizure frequency. Good response (stopping of all seizures or more than 50% reduction in seizure frequency) was seen in 51% of mixed types, 61% of myoclonic seizures, 64% of generalized tonic-clonic seizures, 69 % of partial seizures, 100 % of tonic seizures, and in 40 % of atonic seizures. Levetiracetam was significantly more effective in partial seizures, idiopathic epilepsies, and children with normal developmental status and normal brain MRI. Twelve children discontinued the treatment due to severe drowsiness, restlessness, and exacerbation of seizures. Transient and mild side effects, including somnolence, anorexia, fatigue, headache, ataxia, and diplopia, were seen in 9% (N=28) of patients. CONCLUSION: Levetiracetam could be considered an efficient and safe adjunct therapy in treating refractory epilepsy in children.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9047840
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-90478402022-06-01 Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children Razieh, Razieh SHAFIEI, Alireza DEHGHANI FIROUZABADI, Fatemah FATHI, Ali Iran J Child Neurol Original Article OBJECTIVE: One-third of epilepsy of children is refractory, and this study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in the treatment of refractory epilepsy of children. MATERIALS & METHODS: In this quasi-experimental study, seizures frequency and side effects of 314 children aged 1-14 years with refractory epilepsy were referred to the Pediatric Neurology Clinic of Shahid Sadoughi Medical Sciences University, Yazd, Iran, and treated with levetiracetam for six months, were evaluated. RESULTS: We evaluated 142 girls and 172 boys with a mean age of 6.78±2.12 years. At the end of six months of treatment with levetiracetam, 20% became seizure-free, 28% had more than 50% decrease in seizure frequency, 38% did not have a notable change in seizure frequency, and 14% experienced an increase in seizure frequency. Good response (stopping of all seizures or more than 50% reduction in seizure frequency) was seen in 51% of mixed types, 61% of myoclonic seizures, 64% of generalized tonic-clonic seizures, 69 % of partial seizures, 100 % of tonic seizures, and in 40 % of atonic seizures. Levetiracetam was significantly more effective in partial seizures, idiopathic epilepsies, and children with normal developmental status and normal brain MRI. Twelve children discontinued the treatment due to severe drowsiness, restlessness, and exacerbation of seizures. Transient and mild side effects, including somnolence, anorexia, fatigue, headache, ataxia, and diplopia, were seen in 9% (N=28) of patients. CONCLUSION: Levetiracetam could be considered an efficient and safe adjunct therapy in treating refractory epilepsy in children. Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences 2022 2022-03-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9047840/ /pubmed/35497099 http://dx.doi.org/10.22037/ijcn.v15i4.29028 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) ) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Article
Razieh, Razieh
SHAFIEI, Alireza
DEHGHANI FIROUZABADI, Fatemah
FATHI, Ali
Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children
title Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children
title_full Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children
title_fullStr Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children
title_short Evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children
title_sort evaluation of the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam as add-on therapy in intractable epilepsy of children
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9047840/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35497099
http://dx.doi.org/10.22037/ijcn.v15i4.29028
work_keys_str_mv AT raziehrazieh evaluationoftheefficacyandtolerabilityoflevetiracetamasaddontherapyinintractableepilepsyofchildren
AT shafieialireza evaluationoftheefficacyandtolerabilityoflevetiracetamasaddontherapyinintractableepilepsyofchildren
AT dehghanifirouzabadifatemah evaluationoftheefficacyandtolerabilityoflevetiracetamasaddontherapyinintractableepilepsyofchildren
AT fathiali evaluationoftheefficacyandtolerabilityoflevetiracetamasaddontherapyinintractableepilepsyofchildren