Efficacy of levetiracetam in partial seizures.
Controlled clinical trials and routine clinical practice demon-strate that levetiracetam is effective as add-on therapy and appears to allow for withdrawal to monotherapy in patients who respond well in the add-on setting. In pivotal clinical trials of adjunctive therapy with levetiracetam 1000 to 3000 mg/day (pooled data), 40% to 54% of patients experienced a 50% or greater reduction in seizure frequency, compared with 18% to 28% of patients treated with placebo. The median percent reduction from baseline in seizure frequency ranged from 36% to 68% for levetiracetam, versus 10% to 23% for placebo. Seizure freedom was achieved by 11% to 35% of those in the levetiracetam treatment group, compared with 3% to 18% of those in the placebo group. (All comparisons statistically significant versus placebo for simple partial, complex partial, and secondarily generalized seizures except for percentage of seizure-free patients with simple partial seizures.) Clinical obser-vations are consistent with these findings.
Devinsky
Orrin
O
Department of Neurology, New York University Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, New York, New York 10016, United States. od4@nyu.edu
Elger
Christian
C
D000818:Animals; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000188:drug therapy; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D015201:Meta-Analysis as Topic; D010889:Piracetam / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D010889:Piracetam