Abstracts

Levetiracetam (LEV) is a newer antiepileptic drug (AED), which is approved as add-on therapy for partial epilepsy in adults. There is no data on its use in children below the age of 5 years.The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of LEV in a cohort of children with a variety of epilepsies below the age of 5 years. A retrospective record analysis of children attending the Neurology Clinic at this institution identified 81 patients with epilepsy who had received LEV between 2002-2005 of whom 15 children were below 5 years at initiation of LEV therapy. Age range was 4 months to 5 years (mean of 2.57 years); duration of therapy was 1 month to 24 months. Dose range was 20 [ndash]60 mg/kg/day. LEV was used as adjunctive treatment in 12 children and as monotherapy in 3. Epilepsy type was partial in 11 and symptomatic generalized in 4. Ten of 15 (67%) children had refractory epilepsy, with failure to respond to at least two prior AEDs. Five children (33%) became seizure free with addition of LEV and were able to taper concomitant AEDs, 3 (20%) had a greater than 50 % reduction in seizure frequency, 2(14 %) showed a 25-50% reduction in seizures while 5 (33%) showed no improvement in seizures. Adverse side-effects,namely irritability was noted in only one child. LEV was discontinued in 5 children for poor seizure control LEV is well tolerated and effective in children below five years with 53% children having a greater than 50% reduction in seizures. (Supported by an investigator initiated research grant given to Dr. Khurana by UCB-Pharma.)