Abstracts

Rationale: Febrile Seizures (FS) are an age-related susceptibility condition to epileptic fits precipitated by fever.7% the children will have more than two recurrent seizures after a firt FS.Prophylactic treatment is only required in cases of at least one of the following features (complex FS,neurological abnormalities,age less then 1 year,frequent recurrences).Continous treatment with phenobarbital and valproate can effectively reduce risk recurrence but its potential adverse events can prevent us to use them. Levetiracetam is a new antiepileptic drug for focal and generalised seizures with no serious adverse events. We studied the efficacy and safety of levetiracetam treatment for recurrent FS in children with valproate failure for FS or without previous treatment but potential risk factors for adverse events wtih valproate. Methods: 15 children aged 18 months to 5 years with FS and at least one risk factor condition for FS recurrence and previous or not valproate treatment were put on levetiracetam (30mg/Kg/Day)with parents consent, and evaluated for recurrence and incidence of adverse events during a medium follow-up period of 24 months Results: Only 1 of 15 children (6,7%) had a recurrence. The other 14 (93,3%) did not report any recurrence during the follow-up. There were no withdrawal of any treatment. Any children showed significant adverse events. Conclusions: Levetiracetam is an effective and safe treatment for febrile seizures and could be a promising prophylactic treatment in future.