title: Levetiracetam in the treatment of antipsychotics-resistant Tourette syndrome.
abstract: Levetiracetam, an anti-epileptic agent that enhances GABAergic neurotransmission, is one of the newest alternative treatments of Tourette syndrome (TS). We present the case of a 23-year-old female patient suffering from TS since the age of 7, who exhibited poor response to a variety of agents (haloperidol, pimozide, clonidine and various adjunctive agents) and had four hospitalizations during the previous 2 years due to the deterioration of her clinical state. On her last admission, in addition to clonidine 600 microg/day (already part of her regimen for the previous 4 years), levetiracetam was prescribed, up to 2000 mg/day, progressively titrated over a 3-week period. The patient presented a significant improvement on her TS symptomatology (the score on the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale dropped from 70 at admission, to 25 five weeks later, at discharge), which was preserved during the subsequent 4 months, without any serious side-effect.
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oulis
authors.forename: Evangelos
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karapoulios
authors.forename: Vasilios G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Masdrakis
authors.forename: Anastasios V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Kouzoupis
authors.forename: Nikolaos A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Karakatsanis
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Papageorgiou
authors.forename: George N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Papadimitriou
authors.forename: Constantin R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Soldatos
mesh_terms: D000316:Adrenergic alpha-Agonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000328:Adult; D018726:Anti-Dyskinesia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003000:Clonidine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005260:Female; D006220:Haloperidol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D010868:Pimozide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010889:Piracetam / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000316:Adrenergic alpha-Agonists; D018726:Anti-Dyskinesia Agents; D000927:Anticonvulsants; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D010868:Pimozide; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D006220:Haloperidol; D003000:Clonidine; D010889:Piracetam