BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Aromatic antiepileptic drugs are frequently implicated for cutaneous adverse drug reactions (cADRs); there are case-reports of even severe reactions like drug reaction eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) and Stevens Johnson syndrome (SJS)-toxic epidermal necrolysis with Levetiracetam (LEV). Certain human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-alleles have strong association with ...

PURPOSE To study pharmacokinetics of levetiracetam (LEV) during pregnancy, delivery, lactation, and in the neonatal period. METHODS Fourteen women with epilepsy receiving LEV treatment during pregnancy and lactation contributed with 15 pregnancies to this prospective study in which LEV concentrations in plasma and breast milk were determined. Trough maternal plasma samples were collected each...

Seizures are common in patients with gliomas, and phenytoin (PHT) is frequently used to control tumorrelated seizures. PHT, however, has many undesirable side effects (SEs) and drug interactions with glioma chemotherapy. Levetiracetam (LEV) is a newer antiepileptic drug (AED) with fewer SEs and essentially no drug interactions. We performed a pilot study testing the safety and feasibility of sw...

BACKGROUND The novel antiepileptic drug (AED) levetiracetam (LEV, Keppra) is indicated as adjunctive therapy for partial epilepsy. The primary aim of this study was to measure the safety and tolerability of LEV individualised dosing in a heterogeneous refractory epilepsy population. METHODS LEV was evaluated in a 10- to 16-week open-label, multicentre study in adult patients with epilepsy ref...

Background: Intravenous levetiracetam (LEV) has been reported to be well tolerated and effective in treating status epilepticus and acute repetitive seizures in children. Compared with traditional anticonvulsants, LEV has fewer cardiopulmonary depression and sedative effects. We describe four patients belonging to two epileptic syndromes who were refractory to standard treatment protocols and w...

Encephalopathy resulting from the administration of levetiracetam (LEV) is a rare occurrence. We experienced a patient receiving LEV treated with valproic acid (VPA) for partial seizures with secondary generalization, following which she developed hyperammonemic encephalopathy and showed complete recovery after the drug was withdrawan. LEV is able to promote hyperammonemic encephalopathy when a...

OBJECTIVES To ascertain the frequency of self-reported anger and depression in levetiracetam (LEV). DESIGN We compared patients with epilepsy (PWE) taking LEV with PWE taking other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). SETTING All PWE and controls submitted information to the UK AED register. PARTICIPANTS We analysed the data of 418 PWE and 41 control participants. 158 participants took LEV in mono...

Brivaracetam (BRV), a selective, high-affinity ligand for synaptic vesicle protein 2A, is a new antiepileptic drug (AED) for adjunctive treatment of focal (partial-onset) seizures in adults with epilepsy. This post-hoc analysis was conducted to explore the efficacy of adjunctive BRV in patients with prior levetiracetam (LEV) exposure and whether changes in efficacy were related to the similar m...

BACKGROUND Psychiatric and behavioral side effects (PBSEs) are a major cause of antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal. Levetiracetam (LEV) is a recognized first-line AED with good seizure outcomes but recognized with PBSEs. Eslicarbazepine (ESL) is considered to function similarly to an active metabolite of the commonly used carbamazepine (CBZ). Carbamazepine is used as psychotropic medication to...

BACKGROUND To examine the efficacy of valproic acid (VPA) given either with or without levetiracetam (LEV) on seizure control and on survival in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) treated with chemoradiation. METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed on 291 patients with GBM. The efficacies of VPA and LEV alone and as polytherapy were analyzed in 181 (62%) patients with seizures...