Abstracts

Levetiracetam is approved for the treatment of partial seizures in children age 4 years and older. We investigated the use of initial monotherapy in children 1 month to 8 years old. There is little know about the initial treatment in children, with regard to efficacy and tolerability., This is a retrospective chart audit of 20 children who were randomly selected from a larger group of children less than 10 years old, who were initially treated for epilepsy with levetiracetam monotherapy. Charts were reviewed for demographics, efficacy, and tolerability., There were 13 males and 7 females, mean age 3.8 years, with a mean follow up of 2.1 years. All had partial onset with or without secondarily generalized seizures. Nineteen of 20 had abnormal EEG. The dose of levetiracetam was between 10 and 70 mg/kg/day. Sixteen (80%) were seizure free. Of these, 5 discontinued due to adverse behavioral side effects. Three of these 5 had adverse behavior with the next medication tried. Four did not gain seizure control with levetiracetam monotherapy, but were controlled with the next medication tried., Initial monotherapy with levetiracetam was an effective treatment for partial onset seizures in children. Additional controlled trials would be beneficial.,