Efficacy and safety of levetiracetam in pediatric epilepsy

Efficacy of levetiracetam in the treatment of pediatric epilepsy: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

To systematically collect, critically evaluate, and synthesize current evidence with respect to the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of levetiracetam as mono- or adjunctive therapy for children and adolescents with all types of epilepsy.

METHODS

The presentation of methods and results in this systematic review was performed according to the evaluation guidelines for health care interventions provided in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocol. Literature retrieval will use the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, China Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Science and Technology Journal Database, Wanfang Database, and Ongoing Clinical Trials Database.The risk of bias of included studies is estimated by taking into consideration the characteristics including random sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding of patients, blinding of outcome assessment, completeness of outcome data, selective reporting and other bias by Cochrane Collaboration's tool. Data synthesis and analyses are performed using RevMan 5.4 software.

RESULTS

The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

CONCLUSION

Levetiracetam seems to be effective and safe for the treatment of pediatric epilepsy.

Initial levetiracetam versus valproate monotherapy in antiseizure medicine (ASM)-naïve pediatric patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy with tonic-clonic seizures

INTRODUCTION

Levetiracetam (LEV) is a second-generation antiseizure medicine (ASM) with broad-spectrum efficacy and tolerability. Few studies have compared the efficacy of valproate (VPA) and LEV as monotherapy in the pediatric population. Herein, we compare the efficacy, tolerability and safety of LEV monotherapy with those of VPA monotherapy in ASM-naïve pediatric patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy with tonic-clonic (GTC) seizures.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and electroencephalographic (EEG) data of these ASM-naïve pediatric patients who were treated with either oral VPA or oral LEV as monotherapy for over 2 years at our center.

RESULTS

This study included 60 patients with a seizure onset age between 2 months and 12 years. The patients on VPA (29 patients) and LEV monotherapy (31 patients) showed similar favorable 6-month treatment outcomes (complete seizure control in 79.31% vs 80.64%, p = 0.468052). Age at epilepsy onset, epilepsy syndrome, EEG features and ASM dose were not significant predictors of the 6-month treatment outcomes in either group. Lower seizure frequency at presentation was a predictor of favorable 6-month treatment outcomes in the LEV group but not in the VPA group. VPA and LEV treatment showed similar favorable 6-month treatment outcomes in the febrile seizures plus and patients with unidentified epilepsy syndrome subgroups. None of the patients discontinued VPA or LEV due to treatment-associated adverse effects.

DISCUSSION

Our study showed that compared to VPA monotherapy, LEV monotherapy in ASM-naïve infants and children with idiopathic generalized epilepsy with GTC seizures has a similarly favorable efficacy and tolerability, independent of age, EEG features and epilepsy syndrome.

A Comparative Study on the Efficacy of Levetiracetam and Carbamazepine in the Treatment of Rolandic Seizures in Children: An Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective:

This study was performed to investigate whether levetiracetam should be preferred to carbamazepine as a treatment choice for benign childhood epilepsy with centro Temporal spikes (BCECTS), the most common partial epilepsy of childhood.

Methods:

This randomized clinical trial study included 92 children with rolandic epilepsy aged 4–12 years referred to the Pediatric Neurology Clinic at Imam Hossein Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, from April 2019 to January 2020. Patients were selected consecutively and randomly assigned to two study groups (levetiracetam and carbamazepine groups). Patients were followed and revisited every 2 months for 6 months after starting the medication. The frequency and duration of seizure attacks and drug side effects were recorded before treatment and in bi-monthly visits. Data were analyzed by SPSS software Version 24 using Mann–Whitney U- test and Friedman test.

Findings:

In our study, the seizure frequency decrease was not significantly different between the two groups; however, patients in both groups showed significantly lower seizure frequency in 2, 4, and 6 months of follow-up compared to starting time. After a follow-up for 6 months, one out of 47 (2.1%) patients using levetiracetam showed intolerance, resulting in changing the medication. In addition, two out of 48 (4.1%) patients in the carbamazepine group had skin rashes. No significant changes had been reported regarding the duration of seizure attacks in both groups after treatment.

Conclusion:

This study showed encouraging results for using levetiracetam, with acceptable results and fewer side effects for the treatment of children with BCECTS in Iran.