Levetiracetam monotherapy for childhood occipital epilepsy of gastaut
Autor: | Francesco Chiarelli, Elisabetta Tozzi, Pasquale Parisi, Giulia Loiacono, Alberto Verrotti, Angelika Mohn, Paolo Curatolo, Salvatore Grosso, Paolo Balestri, Paola Iannetti |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2009 |
Předmět: |
antiepileptic drugs
electroencephalography efficacy late onset childhood occipital epilepsy levetiracetam tolerability Male Pediatrics medicine.medical_specialty Antiepileptic drugs Efficacy Electroencephalography Late onset childhood occipital epilepsy Levetiracetam Tolerability Adolescent Anticonvulsants Child Drug Administration Schedule Epilepsies Partial Female Follow-Up Studies Humans Patient Selection Pilot Projects Piracetam Prospective Studies Seizures Treatment Outcome Neurology Neurology (clinical) medicine.medical_treatment Late onset Epilepsies Central nervous system disease Epilepsy medicine Prospective cohort study medicine.diagnostic_test business.industry General Medicine medicine.disease Anticonvulsant Anesthesia business medicine.drug Partial |
Popis: | Objectives – The aim of this open label pilot study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of levetiracetam (LEV) as ‘de novo’ monotherapy in children and adolescents with late onset childhood occipital epilepsy–Gastaut type (COE-G). Material and methods – Twelve patients suffering from COE-G were enrolled in this prospective study. The age of seizures onset ranged from 6.1 to 16.2 years with a peak of frequency at mean (±SD) 10.54 ± 2.77 years. Therapy with LEV was started at 10 mg/kg/day and, after titration, the final dose was generally achieved within 4 weeks and ranged from 20.7 to 45.2 mg/kg/day. Results – At the 6 month evaluation, 11 (91.6%) of the 12 patients studied were seizure free, and one (8.3%) showed four additional episodes. Electroencephalography (EEG) activity was normal in six (54.5%) patients, unchanged in two (18.1%) children, and in four (33.3%) patients sporadic occipital abnormalities persisted. At the 12-month evaluation all patients were completely seizure free. Four patients (33.3%) continued to show some EEG abnormalities, while eight (72.8%) patients had normal EEG. At the 18-month evaluation all patients were seizure free and 10 patients (83.3%) showed a complete normalization of EEG abnormalities. Discussion – Monotherapy with LEV was effective and well tolerated in patients with COE-G. Nevertheless, prospective, large, long-term double-blind studies are needed to confirm these findings. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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