Levetiracetam effectiveness as add-on therapy in Bulgarian patients with drug-resistant epilepsy
| Autor: | Zahari I Zahariev, Ekaterina Viteva |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male 0301 basic medicine Pediatrics medicine.medical_specialty Neurology levetiracetam efficacy 03 medical and health sciences Epilepsy 0302 clinical medicine Seizures medicine Humans Prospective Studies Bulgaria Adverse effect Depression (differential diagnoses) Seizure types business.industry General Medicine Drug Resistant Epilepsy medicine.disease adverse events Treatment Outcome 030104 developmental biology Pharmaceutical Preparations Tolerability epilepsy Medicine Anticonvulsants Drug Therapy Combination Female 030211 gastroenterology & hepatology Levetiracetam business medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Folia Medica, Vol 63, Iss 2, Pp 234-241 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 1314-2143 0204-8043 |
| DOI: | 10.3897/folmed.63.e54994 |
| Popis: | Introduction: There are no reliable prospective studies on the effectiveness of LEV in Bulgarian adult patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Aim: The study aimed at conducting an open, prospective study on various aspects of levetiracetam (LEV) effectiveness in Bulgarian patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Materials and methods: The study was performed with patients with epilepsy recruited from those attending the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The patients completed diaries about seizure frequency, severity, and adverse events. There were regular documented visits at 3 or 6 months during the first year of treatment with LEV and at 6 months afterwards, with dynamic assessment of seizure frequency, severity, adverse events, and EEG recordings. Results: LEV was applied as an add-on therapy in 135 patients (86 males, mean age 35 years). There was a relatively mild and persisting dynamic improvement of seizure severity, a satisfactory seizure frequency reduction in 49.6% of participants, a persisting mean seizure frequency reduction (48-58%) from 6 to 36 months of treatment and a high responder rate (53-60%) during the same period. New seizure types (focal with impaired awareness with /without evolution to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures) occurred in 4 patients. There were adverse events (dizziness, memory impairment, aggressiveness, numbness, non-epileptic seizures, depression, anxiety, speech disturbances, visual hallucinations, sleepiness, pelvic muscles weakness, confusion, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite, unstable gait, hair loss, acne, generalized rash) in 13.33% of patients. Conclusions: LEV treatment is associated with: low and persisting improvement of seizure severity, a good and persisting improvement of seizure frequency, a possible worsening of seizure control, a possible appearance of new seizure types, a good safety and tolerability. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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