[Effectiveness and tolerability of the new antiepileptic drugs: the position of levetiracetam].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of levetiracetam in relation to other antiepileptics.


METHODS
Selecting the first choice antiepileptic for a particular patient must be based on solid evidence. Randomised double blind clinical trials offer perhaps the most solid evidence of the efficiency and tolerability of a medication. Nevertheless, trials that compare new antiepileptics in monotherapy are scarce. For this reason, we have performed a series of meta analyses that help to evaluate different drugs in a comparative manner. Unfortunately, the meta analyses published, although they do provide the specialist with valuable information, show limitations that make them difficult to interpret. The evidence available suggests that, in spite of there being a differentiating tendency between certain medications both in effectiveness and in tolerability, the differences between them do not reach statistical significance.


CONCLUSIONS
Levetiracetam has been shown to be an antiepileptic drug with unquestionable advantages: favourable pharmacokinetic properties, rapid titration, high efficiency and low toxicity profile. In addition, there is preliminary evidence that it has a wide spectrum, that is to say, it is effective not only in focal but also in generalised seizures.
Arroyo
S
S
Unidad de Epilepsia, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Barcelona, España. 3061sas@comb.es
D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D010889:Piracetam / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors
D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D010889:Piracetam