BACKGROUND The human motor cortex (M1) has a role in motor learning. Antiepileptic drugs that suppress M1 excitability may affect learning, presumably by inhibiting long-term potentiation. Levetiracetam, a new antiepileptic drug with a unique preclinical profile, also suppresses M1 excitability, but in a way that is different from other antiepileptic drugs. The effect of levetiracetam on motor ...

PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy of levetiracetam in cases of refractory primary generalised epilepsy. METHODS Three patients with refractory primary generalised epilepsy were treated with levetiracetam monotherapy; one with absence seizures, myoclonic jerks and generalised tonic-clonic (GTC) seizures one with myoclonic jerks and GTC seizures, and one with only GTC seizures. All three patient...

We recently reported that rodent hippocampal slices incubated with levetiracetam for 3h had altered responses to repetitive stimulation and reduced neurotransmitter release. However, our experiments failed to determine the actual time course of diminished transmission in individual slices followed over time. We have now been able to record from the same slices for up to 3h to determine the late...

PURPOSE The long-term stability of levetiracetam solution in oral syringes was investigated in order to define a suitable beyond-use date and demonstrate the feasibility of storing prepared syringes for extended periods as an alternative to commercial levetiracetam unit dose cups. METHODS Levetiracetam oral solution (100 mg/mL) was drawn into 1- and 10-mL amber polypropylene oral syringes. Tr...

− Levetiracetam is a novel antiepileptic drug (AED) with proven efficacy against partial seizures, but there is limited information about its effectiveness against generalized seizures. In animal models, levetiracetam protects against seizures in audiogenic susceptible rodents, and it is effective in the Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rat from Strasbourg, a model of absence seizures. In these models,...

Context: Recently, new anti-epileptic drugs are marketed to be used as an add-on to the traditional drugs in children with refractory epilepsy. Levetiracetam is a second-generation of new anti-epileptic drugs with unknown precise mechanism of action in brain and synaptic vesicle in children with drug resistant epilepsy. Herein, the efficacy and safety of add-on levetiracetam in children with re...

PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of adjunctive levetiracetam in very young children (aged 1 month to <4 years) with partial-onset seizures inadequately controlled with one or two antiepileptic drugs. METHODS This multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study consisted of a 48-h inpatient baseline video-EEG (electroencephalography) and a 5-day inpatient treat...

BACKGROUND Levetiracetam is an antiepileptic drug frequently used in critically ill patients. Levetiracetam is primarily eliminated as a parent compound via glomerular filtration and requires dose adjustment in renal insufficiency, but the literature on patients receiving continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) is scant. CASE REPORT We report the levetiracetam pharmacokinetic profile of a ...

OBJECTIVE To report a case of delayed methotrexate (MTX) elimination while receiving concomitant levetiracetam. CASE REPORT A 46-year-old man with relapsed osteosarcoma of the base of the skull receiving high-dose MTX tolerated his first cycle of MTX with elimination to nontoxic MTX levels (≤0.1 µmol/L) within 90 hours. After hospital discharge, the patient experienced seizures secondary to b...

The aim of this study was to determine the tolerability and efficacy of two oral regimens of levetiracetam, 1000 mg and 2000 mg twice daily, as add-on treatment without titration in patients with refractory epilepsy. After a 1- to 4-week baseline, 119 patients were randomized to receive levetiracetam 2000 mg daily, 4000 mg daily, or placebo for a 24-week double-blind period, then levetiracetam ...